Pirates of Destiny Isle
by Priest Li Xiang
Summary: [Complete] A pirate, a blacksmith, a governer's daughter. Riku, Sora and Kairi can get into trouble doing anything-- or as anyone, it seems.
1. Part One

You know, my Kingdom Hearts fics are always longer than every other fic I write... weird.  
  
This is 40.9kb long, without the author's notes (but including the commentary from the cast at the end).   
  
Yes, this is a fusion of Pirates of the Caribbean and Kingdom Hearts. No, I don't know why I decided this was a good idea, but it amused me. Especially when I was watching PoTC for the fourth time and found myself giggling over the dialogue and scenes I changed further on into the movie. Because there will be changes. Serious changes. Freakin' amusing changes.  
  
Some of the characters may not make sense as the ones they portray at this particular time, but trust me, they'll make sense by the end of the fic. Or not, but by then, you'll have come up with your own reasons for my decision to make certain people certain characters.  
  
Onwards, folks, to the story.  
  
Disclaimer: PoTC belongs to Disney. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Square. Neither of which employ the author. Characters used without permission.  
  
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Pirates of Destiny Isle  
  
Part One  
  
Priest Li Xiang  
  
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The fog was thick, causing the eyes to strain to see anything about them. It was an unnatural fog, and she was pretty sure that she smelt smoke on the winds-- but that was impossible, was it not? How could there be smoke enough to be smelt here, at the prow of the ship, where she stood, so softly singing. This was the ocean, after all, and everything she had learned previously said that water would always conquer over fire. Therefore, it was quite impossible.  
  
Her childish words were cut off quite abruptly as a hand came down upon her shoulder, causing her to gasp. Whirling, soft brown eyes stared into the cool almost black depths of a stout man. A hat sat lopsidedly upon his head, a shade or two off of the colors of the coats of the navy men that accompanied she and her father. He was frowning, "Quiet, young missy. Cursed pirates sail these waters-- ye don't want to be bringing them down upon us, do ye?"  
  
The ten year old opened her mouth, annoyed and ready to respond, when someone else did it for her. The man was dressed in the finery of a Lieutenant in the navy, although he refused to conform to the standards of the day-- his hair was long and shaggy, a tussled brown-gold beneath the hat he had to wear. He had other changes to his uniform, simple changes-- such as the thick, and sturdy black leather boots with an absurd amount of belts and buckles upon them, and the sleek black leather gloves that bore a strange lion's head-like symbol upon their backs. The same symbol, done in silver, slapped against his chest; he wore it as a pendant.   
  
"Mister Donald," the man-- he could not have been more than eighteen, really-- snapped, sending the older male a sharp look, "That is quite enough."  
  
"She was singin' about pirates," Donald spat back, eyes flashing with barely tamped fury. He was a superstitious sort, and his beliefs had held firm over the long years of his life, "It be bad luck to sing about pirates-- what with us mired in this unnatural fog. Mark my words," he warned, lifting his chin.  
  
"Consider them marked," the Lieutenant returned, nary an ounce of emotion coloring his voice, "Be on your way."  
  
"Aye, Lieutenant," the older one tipped his head in understanding, before all but stomping past him. Beneath his breath, the old one grumbled, "It's bad luck t'ave a woman on board to. Even a miniature one," before taking a long swig from his rum flask.  
  
"_I_ think it would be rather exciting to meet a pirate," she interjected, lifting her head proudly to stare the Lieutenant in the eye. A dark, slender eyebrow rose, stretching the star between his eyes a bit strangely. His voice was flat when he spoke.  
  
"Think again, Miss Swann. Vile men who deserve what they get-- a short drop and a sudden stop," he didn't bother to explain, and she looked past him in confusion. Donald had turned about to see her face, and decided to end her confusion. He tipped his head back, stuck out his tongue and yanked upwards on the straps of his flask. She recoiled in shock, never having been all that fond of hangings.  
  
"Lieutenant Loire," a new voice, belonging to a rounded figure with a dark wig and fancy hat, interjected somewhat hesitantly, "I do appreciate your fervor, but I... I am concerned about the effect this subject will have upon my daughter."  
  
Loire tipped his head in acknowledgement, moving off to continue with his duties.   
  
"Actually, I find it all quite fascinating," she smiled cheerfully up at her father, who patted her on the shoulder with a pained grimace.  
  
"Yes. That's what concerns me."  
  
With a roll of her eyes, the young Miss Swann turned back to her previous activity-- watching the waters for any sign of their destination. Or for the reason behind the smoke-smell that even yet still tingled her nostrils.   
  
To her surprise, a speck of white came drifting out of the fog. With a tiny laugh, and a smile, she leaned over the edge to get a better look at the... parasol? What in the world was a parasol doing out on the ocean? There was no reason for it to be out there... unless some poor woman had dropped it overboard on a windy day. Like the day before, for example-- they had gotten quite ahead of schedule thanks to the wind that had picked up, but that wind had died down to nothing over the course of the night and now they were drifting along, barely moving.  
  
With a sigh, she focused back into the present, sweeping her gaze up and away from the parasol-- only to land upon another oddity in the waters. But this one was neither a parasol, nor other accessory.  
  
"Look! Look!" the half shriek brought about the attention of many of the crew, "A boy! There's a boy in the water!"  
  
Donald was the first to the side, peering down at the wreckage and the youth who lay sprawled across what could only be the remains of the deck of a ship, "Man overboard!"  
  
"Haul him aboard," Loire's voice was quiet, but commanding, and the men leapt to the task, hefting the soaked boy onto the deck. It took only a moment to check, "He's still breathing," before Loire stood alongside many of the other men to see where the child could have come from.  
  
"Mary, Mother of God!" Donald spat, his eyes widening as the answer came into view. Her own eyes flew wide at the site, and to her dismay, she discovered what, exactly, could cause the smell of smoke to be on the air in the midst of the ocean.   
  
A burning ship.  
  
There was not much of it left-- bits and pieces scattered here and there, the mast propped oddly against what could have once been the Captain's quarters, the sail burning brightly. Flames leapt from piece of piece, turning the fog bright, and the waters orange. Many a hat came off.  
  
"What happened here?" her father was saying, as her gaze was captured by the beauty of the flames. She did not think she was supposed to be finding it to be such a wondrous sight, but she could not help what she felt.  
  
"Most like the powder magazine," Loire murmured, eyes flashing oddly in the flickering light, "Merchant vessels run heavily armed."  
  
"Bloody lot of good it did them," Donald muttered, turning his gaze away from the sight and towards his shipmates, "Everyone's thinkin' it; I'm just saying it. _Pirates_."  
  
"There... there's no proof of that, now. It was probably an accident," her father stuttered, only to be ignored. Loire whirled about, "Rouse the Captain. Heave to and take in sail. Lower the boats."  
  
"Kairi," her name startled her out of her daze, and she looked up at her father, "I want you to accompany the boy. He will be in your charge. Take care of him."  
  
"Yes father," she gave the barest nods of acknowledgement, skirting around the ropes on the deck to get to the boy's side. He was truly a remarkable figure, she mused, although it would be several more years before she was of any age to understand the ideals of handsome and ugly. No, what was remarkable was his coloring. His youthful face was striking against the pale of his hair-- a blonde that was so near to white; she could have sworn that it glinted blue for a few moments. His feet were bare, but from their coloring, obviously used to wearing boots. A white shirt was barely tucked into black britches, and a gold chain sparkled about his neck.   
  
Carefully, she reached out to snag the chain, curious over the pendant. Would it be something unique like Loire's lion, or would it be chain to a timepiece? However, before she could pull it out, the boy jerked awake, fingers curling tightly around her wrist-- she could feel his nails biting into the skin. The pain was minimal enough to ignore.  
  
"It's okay," she soothed, brushing away all worries from her face, as she stared into brilliant, brilliant blue eyes "Everything will be just fine. My name is Kairi Swann."  
  
"R... R... Riku... T... Turner," he choked out, adrenaline already seeping out of his body and causing him to start to go limp. Kairi patted his hand softly as his fingers unclenched.  
  
"I'm watching over you, Riku," she murmured, watching as his ocean-blue eyes fell shut. Nearly the moment he had fallen back to the deck, she slipped the chain from beneath his shirt, and over his head to investigate it. A gold trinket, was her first thought, before her mind put together the images on the pendant. It was circular, a skull directly in the center, and several odd symbols and designs she amused to be words in another language around it.   
  
Around the skull itself was the carefully etched and designed flame-like drawings that could only be one mythical figure-- Heartless. It was creepy. It was disturbing. It was something only a pirate would wear.  
  
"You're a... pirate," she whispered, eyes lighting up with some strange joy as she stared at the youth. But it dimmed quickly as she realized what would happen if her father or Loire learned of Riku's status as a pirate. Less than guiltily, the girl quickly shoved the medallion into the pocket of her skirt.   
  
"Has he said anything?"  
  
Kairi jumped, whirling about to face Loire, delighted that she had managed to hide the medallion before the man had gotten close enough to see it. Taking a breath, she nodded, "His name is Riku Turner. It's all he said."  
  
Loire nodded in understanding, a faint look of amusement flickering in the man's eye. Did he know? Did the Lieutenant already know Riku was a pirate, and was merely humoring her? Would he take the boy and lock him up? There were rumors of Loire's own status on the seas-- that he was all but pirate himself, except working for the Royal Navy, and therefore exempt from hanging. Did that mean that he knew the names of all the pirates on the seas?  
  
Her nervousness was on the verge of breaking into the visible range, when Loire spoke again, "Take him below," and stepped past her.  
  
Shaking her head, the girl returned to where she had been standing before Riku had been discovered, and raised her eyes out to the waters, where the beautiful fire still flickered.  
  
Her mouth went dry, as she saw a myth upon the waters, beginning to glide back into the fog.  
  
"The Black Pearl..."  
  
---  
  
With a sigh, the beautiful redhead slid the twin blades between the mattresses of her bed, and stretched luxuriously, spine popping and cracking as she did so. Mmm, such a delicious feeling, the sun warmly filtering through the window on her sweat-soaked body. Practice made perfect, she mused, rolling her shoulders and twisting her hips. It had been a good practice, the swish of her nightgown rippling around her as she moved... how delightful. She'd have to thank Riku for the blades again, sometime soon.  
  
Custom made for her, they were not a weapon native to Europe, and therefore, not one that she was expected to know how to use. Not that, she mused darkly as she reached for her bureau to retrieve the only bit of jewelry that she wore every day, she was supposed to know how to fight in the first place. It had certainly taken long enough to convince Riku to help her on her endeavor. You would think being friends for years would have helped in some way, shape or form.   
  
Shaking silly thoughts from her head, she did the clasp for the medallion she had stolen years ago, and snatched up her quilt to wipe the sweat from her face and neck. Mere moments after completing the task at hand, there came a heavy-handed knock at the door, and her father's voice came to her ears, "Kairi! Are you alright? Are you decent?"  
  
"Yes!" she called in answer to both questions as she pulled a robe on over her nightgown, tying the sash in record time.  
  
"Still abed at this hour?" her father shook his head with a sigh, turning to look out the window, and missing the nervous grin on his daughter's face as she pretended to have only just awoken, "Ah, it is a beautiful day. I have a gift for you."  
  
One of the maids that had accompanied her father into the room held out a decorated box, and Kairi carefully lifted the lid of it to stare down at the dress held within the box. Lifting it out, she marveled at the design, even as she itched to be allowed to pull on a pair of men's britches and go about like that. Or even, she thought back to the slaves she had seen some weeks ago on a ship bound for England, to be able to wear the short, light skirts that they wore. Some of the clothing her father ordered her-- direct from London, of course-- was to heavy, or had to many layers to wear in the heat of Destiny Island, the heart of the Caribbean.   
  
The majority of the dress was white in color, flowers and vines embroidered into the fabric in several different shades of violet. Kairi's eyes lifted to her father's and she smiled widely, "Oh, it's absolutely beautiful, father!"  
  
"Isn't it?" the Governor chuckled, and Kairi barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew damn well her father had merely asked for 'a dress for my daughter', and someone else had decided on the design and colors to give her. Still... violet was one of her favorite colors...  
  
"May I inquire as to the occasion?" she wondered suspiciously, hiking an eyebrow. For one thing, he father never actually bought her anything unless there was an occasion for it. More often than not, she had found herself down at the port buying her own clothing, or even just the fabric. Not that her father knew that she was quite the capable seamstress, and had taken to repairing her own clothing in lue of spending money to have it done for her.  
  
"Does a father need an occasion to dote upon his daughter?" When it's you? Yes, she thought at him, although refrained from speaking aloud. Daughters weren't allowed to be disobedient, now where they? "Go on, try it on."  
  
With a shake of her head, Kairi disappeared behind the changing screen, and threw off her robe. The maids that had followed her shared smiles at the sight of her sweat-soaked nightgown. It was a regular occurrence, and while neither woman had inkling of the true reasons for the sweat, they had their own thoughts in the backs of their minds.   
  
"Actually..." there it was, exactly as she had expected it her father hedged his bets and spoke, "I had hoped that you might wear it for the ceremony today."  
  
"Ceremony?" what ceremony? Had she missed something while she had been practicing? Or when she had gone down to the port to bother Riku into going off with her?  
  
"Captain Leon Loire's promotion ceremony," the old man confirmed with a nod of his head. Kairi peered around the changing screen, a triumphant smile on her face.  
  
"I knew it!"  
  
"Commodore Loire, he's about to become," her father continued on, as though he hadn't heard her proclamation, "Fine gentleman, don't you think? He fancies you."   
  
Really now, Kairi wondered, wrapping the corset around her body. How could you possibly tell? Loire was a frigid man-- handsome, but frigid. He only thought of the sea and bringing in more pirates, really. She'd once heard, however, that he had once had a fiancée. Apparently she refused to be married to a man who loved the sea and battle more than her, and had broken the engagement.   
  
"Kairi? How is it coming?"  
  
"Difficult to say," Kairi huffed, drawing in her breath and her stomach, as the maids pulled the strings of the corset tight. Now, this was most assuredly not something she had worn before, and it was damned painful.  
  
"I'm told it's the latest fashion in London."  
  
Well, maybe they know how to survive without breathing, she shot back in her mind, gasping, as the boned cloth was pulled even tighter. Yes, she would kill whatever foolish man had decided that corsets were fashionable. Painfully. With a rusty butter knife.  
  
Hmm, she'd been hanging around the jails and the pirates within a bit to often.  
  
Her thoughts were cut off as yet another knock came at her bedroom door, and a servant stepped in, "M'lord, you have a visitor."  
  
As her father left, Kairi rolled her eyes, then turned to the maids, "Do you think you could loosen it just a bit? It's quite painful."  
  
"I'm sorry, M'lady," one of the servants murmured, "but the dress'll not fit right without it as tight as it is."  
  
"Dammit all," Kairi spat beneath her breath, so that the two ladies with her would not hear her words. It wouldn't do to be impolite when she was supposed to be a lady. Oh, what she wouldn't give to be as free as the women at the port! Brushing away such thoughts, she slipped into the elegant dress and allowed the two maids to fuss over her hair and matching jewelry.   
  
It took a bit longer than she had hoped, but soon enough she was walking down the spiraling staircase from her rooms to the main hall. Her ears perked as a familiar voice floated to them.  
  
"--Always pleased to hear his work is appreciated."  
  
"Ah, Kairi!" her father's voice practically boomed through the house, "You look absolutely stunning."  
  
But Kairi couldn't care less about her father's words, as her gaze fell upon the man who was more family to her than her own flesh and blood, "Riku! So good to see you. I had a dream about you last night."  
  
"A... about me?" Riku looked confused, and slightly wary. Kairi had shared some of her dreams with him before, and the silver haired youth, while not adverse to hearing them, really didn't think her father needed to hear some of the things that Kairi-- and he, at times-- got into in her nightly adventures.  
  
"Kairi," came her father's slightly pained voice, "Is that entirely proper for--"  
  
  
  
"About the day we met, do you remember?" she prodded with a smile. With her back to her father, her eyebrows twitched, and Riku began to get a sinking feeling. Best to get out of this before Kairi dragged him into even _more_ trouble than she usually did.  
  
"How could I forget, Miss Swann?" it's not like I haven't wondered what would have happened had you not come across me.  
  
"Riku," the girl huffed, "How many times must I ask you to call me Kairi?"  
  
"At least once more, Miss Swann, as always," had the Governor not been there, the sentence would have been met by Kairi pouncing on him in a tickle attack that sometimes made him wonder if she was a five year old in an eighteen year old's body. Not that he was any better, tickling back and getting the two in a right proper mess, should anyone have seen them. It was a surprise that no one had yet.  
  
But the Governor was there, and he smiled, clapping a hand on his daughter's shoulder, "There, see? At least the boy has a sense of propriety. Now, we really must be going. Farewell."  
  
"Good day, Mister Turner," Kairi sighed, following her father out of the building. Riku tagged along until right outside the doors, calling to the carriage that the two Swanns were climbing into, "Good day!" With a slight smile, and a shake of his head, the youth left the premises to return to work. No rest for the weary.  
  
---  
  
With the day so fair, it was only right that there was enough of a sea breeze to bring ships into harbor.   
  
Even if the ship was little more than a lifeboat with a mast, crows nest and sail, he thought with a smirk, blue eyes focused on the island he was coming ever closer to. Shaking his head in amusement at his own predicament, he looked down and sighed. Apparently his fix-all gunk hadn't worked. But then, it was only mud, so there had been little hope that it would do much else than keep him from sinking completely as he tried to find a port to sail into. With a cheerful little bounce, he dropped into the water that was filling his small boat, and snatched up a bucket to begin bailing it out. It did little to help, but it gave him something to do.   
  
There was nothing more boring than to be on a slowly sinking ship, for which you know there is no hope, being well within reach of land, on a bright, sunshiny day. Well, perhaps being out in the waters, far away from land, with little food, when it was a bright, windless day. That was pretty boring, too.  
  
Raising his eyes, he pushed away his mental distractions as his eyes landed upon the three skeletons swaying in the sea breeze, and the creaking wooden sign that hug, weather beaten, beside them. Pirates ye be warned.  
  
Not that warnings ever mattered to him, was his thought as he pulled off his captain's hat to reveal a messy mass of brown spikes, decorated with beads and bones, to salute the skeletons. Might as well send his regards to those who went before.   
  
And damn to the depths anyone who thought that they would ever have _his_ body to hang there, as well.  
  
The breeze shifted slightly, and his boat crept closer to the skeletons for a moment, before swaying back onto the course it had been set before as he fixed the sail to catch the wind properly. Not that it truly mattered, not all that much time later, as his boat sunk to the bottom. He merely stepped off the crows nest and onto the dock, with a cheerful little bounce to his step. Now... he just needed to find himself--  
  
"Hold up there, you!" barked a voice from behind, and he swung around to blink at the white-wearing harbormaster, "It's a shilling to tie up your boat at the docks," Incredulously, he looked from the harbormaster to where his boat had gone beneath, but the man was not finished, "And I shall need to know your name."  
  
"Well..." he came forwards, a grimy hand partially bound in leather dropping three coins onto the man's log book, "What d'ye say to three shillings, and we forget the name?"  
  
"Welcome to Destiny Island, Mister Smith," the Harbormaster smiled, clapping his book shut. 'Mister Smith' smiled, clapping his hands together and bowing slightly, red-brown waistcoat swishing gaily about him as he stood. He paused only to look at the bag the Harbormaster had carelessly left behind, lifting it and shaking it. The sound of coins clicking caused him to smile, and he tucked it away into his coat. How delightful! Extra booty.  
  
Now, he had to go find himself a boat, didn't he?   
  
No. Wait. There was something _else_ he needed first.  
  
Rum.  
  
---  
  
Sufficiently plied with rum, he strolled down the walk, weaving slightly as he moved. Damned land was impossibly hard to walk upon. Give him a ship and the sea any day! Now there was something made for walking.   
  
Amused smile curving his lips, he turned his head towards the harbor, eyes sweeping the docks for a suitable ship. It needed to be a fair size, of course, and it needed to be prepared to leave. It would be rather hard to get a ship ready by himself, and he already knew it would be quite the task to accomplish, but who else but he would every try? That's right, no one, and he enjoyed making a name for himself.  
  
Ah, now there was a ship. With an off kilter smile, and a bounce in his step, he continued on towards the navy docks, and the ship he had decided would be his. At least, temporarily, until he got his real ship back. All he needed to do was stroll down the docks and hop into the boat. It wouldn't do to take the boat and then find something wrong with it, something he couldn't work around. Therefore, he had to look at it before... borrowing without permission.  
  
"This dock is off limits to civilians!" came a voice, and two men shuffled in front of him. They stood about the same height, one with bright blonde hair that was only slightly painful as the sun glinted off of it, and the other had shaggy black hair. The first looked like some sort of prince with his grooming and all, while the other looked like he had been picked up off the street. Ah, well, the navy got all sorts, did it not?  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know," he responded with a smile and a gesture, "If I see one, I shall inform you immediately!" With this cheerful sentence-- because, of course, he didn't consider himself a civilian. He didn't live on Destiny Island, now did he?-- he tired to walk around the two red-coated guards. They refused to let him by. He decided to try another tactic, "Apparently, there's some sort of a high toned and fancy to do up at the fort, eh? How could it be that two upstanding gentlemen such as yourselves did not merit an invitation?"  
  
"Someone has to make sure this dock stays off limits to civilians," the blonde returned.  
  
"It's a fine goal, to be sure, but it seems to me that a ship like that one," he shifted slightly, pointing out at the military ship floating not all that far out from the docks, "makes this one here a bit superfluous, really."  
  
"Ah, the Ragnarok is the power in these waters, true enough," the blonde nodded, "but there is no ship that can match the Highwind for speed."  
  
"I've here of one," he smiled, the sun glinting off a gold tooth, "Supposed to be very fast, nigh uncatchable... the Black Pearl."  
  
"Well," the dark haired one finally decided to speak up, "there's no _Real_ ship that can match the Highwind."  
  
"The Black Pearl is a real ship," his partner insisted.  
  
"No, no it's not."  
  
"Yes it is. I've seen it."  
  
"You've seen it?"  
  
"Yes," the blonde nodded firmly, crossing his arms.  
  
"You haven't seen it," the rough one snorted.  
  
"Yes I have," the pretty boy insisted.  
  
"You've seen a ship with black sails, that's crewed by the damned, and captained by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out?" Neither man noticed the smirk on his face as they argued, nor did they notice as he stepped around them, going up the boarding plank to poke and prod at the ship.  
  
"No."  
  
"No," there was a triumphant note in his voice.  
  
"But," the blonde nodded, "I have seen a ship with black sails."  
  
"Oh, so no ship that's not crewed by the damned, and captained by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out could possibly have black sails and therefore couldn't possibly by any other ship than the Black Pearl. Is that what you're saying?"  
  
The blonde nodded with a smile, "No."  
  
"Like I said, there's no _real_ ship that can match the Highwind," the black haired one shook his head and turned back to the man they had been speaking with, only to realize that he was gone. A quick look about showed his position to both of the guards-- aboard the Highwind, playing with the wheel, as though he was some over sized and drunk child.  
  
"Hey!" the blonde squawked, completely forgetting the argument that he had begun, "You! Get away from there!"  
  
"You don't have permission to be aboard there, mate," his partner also seemed to have forgotten as the two men leapt aboard, bayonets aimed towards the offender.  
  
"I'm sorry, it's just that it's such a pretty boat-- ship. I meant ship."  
  
"What's your name?" the blonde have him a suspicious look, and he smiled.  
  
"Smith. Or... Smithy, if you like."  
  
"And what's your purpose on Destiny Island, Mister Smith?"  
  
"And no lies now!" the blonde added on, nodding sharply.  
  
Never one for lying, he smiled, stepping away from the wheel, "Well then, I confess. It is my intention to commandeer one of these fine ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage and plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasley black guts out."  
  
"Hey, I said no lies!"  
  
"I think he's telling the truth, Hercules."  
  
"If he were telling the truth, Aladdin, he wouldn't have told us."  
  
"Unless, of course," he interjected cheerfully, "he knew you wouldn't believe the truth, even if he told it to you."  
  
Ah, he enjoyed playing with peoples' minds. It was a surprise he could do that while drunk.  
  
---  
  
"May I have a moment?" the quiet voice was commanding, bordering on monotone, and left no doubt as to who it belonged to. Kairi turned to see the newly promoted Commodore Loire standing at her side. He was a chill as normal, the scar between his eyes dark against his pale skin. She would never know how the man managed to stay so pale, all but living on the seas of the Caribbean. It didn't seem possible, but then, Leon was always one to be able to perform the impossible.   
  
Nodding her head, she trailed after him, and they found themselves standing atop the battlement, Kairi struggling for breath through her corset. It was too damned tight-- she'd told her maids that! And now, she was suffering due to lack of breath and the damnable heat of the day. Her pitiful little hand fan did little to alleviate the pain of being so short of breath, and she decided, then and there, that she would never, ever, ever, wear a corset again.  
  
Ever.  
  
Even if she went to London, where it was the fashion.  
  
Because, dammit it was killing her!  
  
While she was thinking all this, and vowing vengeance against the fool who had created the damned thing in the first place, Loire was trying desperately to figure out a way to approach Kairi. She was over a decade and a half his junior, but she was both beautiful and unmarried, although he was unlikely to ever speak of her beauty in anything but his mind. He was not a talking person.  
  
But the ceremony, the promotion he had received not even an hour prior threw his life into sharp relief-- he needed a wife. If not for him, than for his father, back in England. The man was growing old, and his mother had just passed on two months previous. The least he could do was offer the man a grandchild before he died. He had hoped his marriage to Rinoa would have worked out, but the woman... she loved him more than he had thought she had, and had allowed him to break free of the engagement so he could stay with his first love-- battle.  
  
He shook his head with a sigh, turning to face the girl he had brought to the Island eight years earlier as a child. It was hard to believe that he was actually going to do this. Well... he could always go about it the way he had with Rinoa thirteen years earlier.  
  
"Kairi..."  
  
"Yes?" she managed to smile, even though she was in pain and leaning against the battlement to keep upright.  
  
"I... apologize if I seem... forward, but I... must speak my mind. The promotion... it throws into light that which I have not yet achieved--"  
  
He can't be serious, her mind whispered through the haze. Was her father right about Loire?  
  
"-- a marriage to a fine woman. You have become a fine woman, Kairi." It wasn't quite what he said to Rinoa, although it was close. Very close. But he had proposed to Rinoa when he had made Lieutenant, and he hadn't tagged on that last line, but all else was the same.   
  
"I... can't breathe," the girl whimpered, and Leon nodded slowly, not really looking at her. Which was a sad thing, because so much could have been avoided if he'd only been looking towards her as she collapsed in a faint, tumbling off the edge of the battlements and into the water. He only caught the movement from the corner of his eye, whirling about as she fell, hat flying off of her crimson locks.  
  
"Kairi!"  
  
"The rocks!" came the startled voice of his closest companion, Aeris, as the woman in the navy uniform wrapped her arms around him to prevent him from diving after the redhead, "Sir, it's a miracle that she missed them!"  
  
---  
  
"Will you be saving her then?" he wondered, looking at the two men who stood beside him. The three had leapt to their feet when the woman had hit the surf, a mere second before.   
  
"I can't swim," Aladdin admitted somewhat sheepishly. A glance to the blonde Hercules revealed a blank stare and a shrug, and he shook his head.  
  
"Pride of the King's Navy, you are," was all he muttered in response, stripping off his hat and a jacket. His sword and pistol, as well as a compass, followed the cloth into the arms of the navy men, and he half growled, "Do not loose these," before diving into the water after the girl. Long used to long swims and diving into the ocean, he let the water sting his eyes as he went after the sinking dress-wearing form.   
  
For a moment, he could have sworn he felt something, an energy of some sort, pulse through his bones. He brushed it off, while topside, the sky began to grow dark, and the wind began to blow. A perfect day soon became a brewing storm. Aladdin and Hercules shared a worried look, aboard the Highwind.  
  
She was heavy, he noted, somewhat annoyedly, hauling her up to the surface over one shoulder. Her weight-- or rather, the weight of the soaking dress-- dragged him back under, however, and he fought with the clothing for a moment, before managing to tear the cloth away from her body. Without it, she was much lighter, and one hell of a lot easier to keep on the surface.  
  
It didn't take all the long to pull the girl onto the dock, where Hercules very nearly panicked, "She's not breathing!"  
  
"Move!" he barked, shoving the man away from the girl, snapping a knife out from a pocket on his soaking pants, and cutting the strings of the corset. As the fabric fell away, she coughed up a lungful of water, and he sat back. Aladdin held the corset somewhat dazed.  
  
"Never would have thought of that."  
  
"Clearly," was his dry response, "You've never been to Singapore," before his eyes landed on the medallion about the girl's neck. Startled, he lifted it into grimy fingers, before looking into her eyes, "Now where did you get this...?"  
  
"On your feet," the chill voice was, somewhat surprisingly, familiar to him. Slowly, he stood, looking into the frosty storm-gray eyes that he could clearly remember, despite the alcohol induced fog in his brain. He knew this man, although the sight of him in a navy uniform was a bit of a shock. He wondered, briefly, if the other members of the military knew of the pirate brand that was hidden by the dark blue jacket, and the lion-pendant on the man's chest. Probably not, as if they had, he wouldn't be wearing the colors of a Commodore, now would he?  
  
"Kairi, are you alright?"   
  
He spared a look to the girl, as the Governor pulled her to her feet, and wrapped his own jacket about the girl. The family resemblance gave him the clue that she was his daughter. Hmm, maybe he wasn't as drunk as he thought he was.  
  
"Yes," she returned, looking at him, "I'm fine.  
  
"Good. Men, shoot him!"  
  
"Father!" Kairi barked, clearly startled enough not to remain in her role of proper female, "Commodore, do you really intend to kill my rescuer?"  
  
The Commodore's eyes narrowed sharply, and the two men stared at each other long and hard, "I believe," Loire began, "that thanks are in order," extending his hand. For a moment, he considered not shaking, and instead jumping into the water and risk being riddled full of bullets. Then he dismissed it. Like Loire would do that to him-- he, after all, knew of Loire's own checkered past as a pirate.   
  
He should have known better, he thought dismally, as Leon's grip tightened, and he pulled up the other man's sleeve. They returned to staring at one another for a moment, before Loire's voice, as cold and emotionless as he remember, broke the tense silent, "Brush with the East India Trading company, pirate?"  
  
"Hang him," the Governor commanded, eyes narrowed. The pirate may have saved his daughter, but no doubt there were countless other lives lost to the man before them.  
  
"Keep your guns on him," Loire commanded, "Aeris, the irons." Here, there lie a small problem. The majority of the men that were with him on the dock had served with him at some point or another. He couldn't just call the pirate by name, as he had never encountered him while with the military, but he wouldn't just ask for his name.  
  
Wait. Didn't he have a tattoo on his arm? Yes, he could clearly remember the other pirate-- even if he was a military man, it was hard to break out of the habit of considering himself a pirate-- showing him the tattoo shortly after he had gotten it done. And it was on this arm as well. How convenient.   
  
"Sora Sparrow," Loire muttered, pulling the sleeve up higher to reveal the sparrow tattoo on his arm.  
  
Sora tipped his head slightly, "Captain Sora Sparrow, if you please, Squa... sir."  
  
"I don't see your ship... Captain," and he knew damn well which ship Sora had captained all those years before.  
  
"I'm in the market, as it were."  
  
"He said he'd come to commandeer one, sir," Hercules interjected, clearly happy to be able to help.  
  
"I told you he was telling the truth. These are his, sir," and he held out Sora's effects to the newly made commodore. Loire rifled through them, clearly amused at what the pirate deemed important enough to carry with him.  
  
"No addition shots, nor powder. A compass that doesn't point north," he mused, before pulling free the sword. A raised eyebrow and a smirk were all Sora needed to know what Loire was thinking, as the sword was slid back into it's scabbard, "You are, without a doubt, the worst pirate I've ever heard of."  
  
"Ah, but you have heard of me," Sora smirked, clearly enjoying this little game, and none to worried about being sentenced to hanging mere minutes ago.   
  
"Commodore," Kairi jumped back into the conversation, as Sora was dragged away, "I really must protest."  
  
"Careful Lieutenant," the man stated, ignoring his intended bride-to-be.  
  
"Pirate or not, this man saved my life!"  
  
"One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness," Leon muttered, and Sora blinked. That certainly explained why the man had given up being a pirate, given up the name Squall Leonhart and returned to his proper, English roots. He'd probably found God, and decided to repent his ways.   
  
"Though it seems enough to condemn him," Sora put in, pushing away his thoughts. It was hard to think of the fierce and feared Squall, a pirate he had looked up to as a lad, as a military man, hell bent on destroying all pirates.  
  
"Indeed," was Loire's dry response as Aeris moved away from chaining Sora.  
  
"Finally," the pirate huffed, swinging his arms up and around and catching Kairi about the throat with the chain, pulling her back against him. "Sorry luv," he murmured, only for her ears, "Don't particularly want to die."  
  
"No! Don't shoot!" the governor was pleading, as he saw his daughter's life on the line. His eyes were wide, and he looked about at the point of having a heart attack. Sora wondered if his father would have been like that, had he ever been in this position as a child and decided that he didn't care. What did it matter anyways; he'd been a pirate since his seventh birthday, and damned if he could do anything else now.  
  
"I knew you've warm up to me," Sora grinned ferally at the navy men, "Commodore Squall--" hey, if Loire was going to blow Sora's identity as a pirate, it was only fair to return the favor,"-- my effects, please, and my hat. Commodore!"  
  
Loire scowled at him, but tipped his head ever-so-slightly. Sora's lips quirked, an understanding passing between the two of them. Pirate to pirate, even if one was in chains, and one was playing at being a good man.  
  
"Kairi, isn't it?" he turned his attention to the girl, as his belongings were handed to her.  
  
"It's Miss Swann," she huffed, annoyed at being used as a hostage.  
  
"Miss Swann, then. If you'd be so kind," he grinned at the girl as she began to put his things on him while within the circle of his chained arms, "'Ey, easy on the goods, darling," he muttered as she pulled his sword belt a wee bit to tight in her annoyance.  
  
"You go beyond annoying," she growled lowly, to low to be heard by anyone but the pirate practically wrapped around her.  
  
"Sticks and stones, luv. Sticks and stones. I saved your life, you saved mine, we're square," raising his voice, he addressed the men about him, "Gentlemen, m'lady, you will always remember this as the day that you almost caught Captain Sora Sparrow!"  
  
And with a twist and shove, Kairi was out of his arms, and he was running off.  
  
"Now will you shoot him?" queried the girl's father.  
  
"Open fire!" Loire commanded, irritable at the treatment of Miss Swann, and at his own previous identity being proclaimed to all. Hopefully, none amongst them would be able to put two and two together. As the guns began to fire, Sora took hold of a rope and kicked off the weight. Up, up, up he went swinging into the air and about in a circle before landing upon another wooden crane.   
  
A grin was shot to the soldiers and to Kairi, as he looped his chain over a rope and kicked off. Ah, this reminded him of his childhood; back when he and his old friend would race each other over the docks of the port where they grew up, increasingly annoying the men and women about as they played their games. With a thud, he found himself on the dock, and bolting full speed away from the approaching soldiers. Every shot that came just slightly to close would cause him to jump and wave about his arms theatrically, but never did he stop running.  
  
Loire had to admit; even he would have stopped by this point, if only to end up full of bullets rather than getting hanged. Despite the long years since they had last seen each other, he still held that spark of respect for Sora Sparrow. It was hard not to, knowing the sorts of things the man could escape from while still alive. Truly a remarkable man.  
  
Now, to see, just how remarkable.  
  
"Aeris."  
  
"Aye sir. We'll make sure he doesn't miss his dawn appointment with the gallows, Commodore."  
  
---  
  
End Part One  
  
Sora: ...  
  
Riku: ...  
  
Kairi: What the _hell_ was that?  
  
Sora & Riku: Kairi!  
  
Kairi: Well, I'm serious! What was that all about? Why's Sora the pirate and Riku the blacksmith?  
  
Riku: Good question. Wouldn't I make a better pirate?  
  
Sora: Hey! Are you saying I'm doing badly?  
  
Riku: No, I'm saying that you don't fit the part, Sora.  
  
Kairi: That's enough, boys. Another question-- why is this almost word for word from the movie?  
  
Sora: Oh! I know the answer to that!  
  
Riku: Do tell.  
  
Sora: Because it hasn't gotten to the point where anything can seriously diverge yet. Remember the ending?  
  
Kairi & Riku: You mean where-- mpph!  
  
Sora: *covering their mouths* Hush, we don't want to be giving it all away, now do we? Ack! Riku! Don't lick my hand!  
  
Riku: Then don't put it over my mouth. 


	2. Part Two

Shorter than part one (39.5KB/17 pages without the author's notes and review responses) but not by much. I was wondering why I didn't get told that there wasn't enough memory left yet ^__^  
  
And we begin to get into the plot changes in this part. You'll notice them right quick, if you're not blind. I don't make many attempts to actually _hide_ them. And, I actually go into an explanation of Kairi's weapons. Yay!   
  
I have to stop watching Fairy Oddparents. Every time I say "yay!" now, my mind makes it automatically in Cosmo's voice ^__^;;  
  
Anyways, review responses!  
  
moments of silence - Here you go, Part Two ^__^  
  
Alana Hikari-Chan - I pick strange people, ne? Aeris is in the navy because she is. Further explaination in the chapter. Sorta. I love my end notes. They're amusing-- and they continue in this part, too! Yay! Pervy-ness is fun, and now I want to know what Jo was thinking, since you told me not to ask. But yes, here's more!  
  
Koburn - Ah, you share my opinnions!  
  
Disclaimer on Part One. Read it there.  
  
--------  
  
Pirates of Destiny Isle  
  
Part Two  
  
Priest Li Xiang  
  
--------  
  
"Bloody hell," Sora muttered to himself, bright eyes watching as the men raced past his hiding spot behind the more-than-life-sized statue of a blacksmith. Things had gone... not so well, since coming into Destiny Island-- he ignored the fact that his bad luck had started before then-- and this just took the cake. It looked like he'd have to steal into the wilds for a bit until things cooled down and he could make another attempt at a boat.  
  
Cheerfully confident in his plans, the brown haired man pulled his sword free from where he had positioned it with the statue and stepped out from behind it. There were a few curious glances from the ladies on the road, but nothing to be worried about.   
  
It was the red coated soldiers at the end of the road that he needed to fear, and without bothering to look, he ducked into the closest building-- the smithy that was obviously the reason for the blacksmith statue. With a grin, the pirate jauntily moved into the smithy, looking for away to remove his irons. Shouldn't be to hard-- after all, it was a metal working shop, was it not? And were the chains not metal themselves? Yes, of course they were.   
  
He had pulled off his hat, and was reaching for the hammer, when a snort, and the sound of a bottle crashing to the floor caught his attention. Startled, by the noise, the pirate spun about, eyes warily searching for the source of the man. There we are-- in that corner there. The dusty, grim-covered older man wore the trappings of a blacksmith, a bottle in one hand, and another shattered at his feet. He was sleeping, comfortably slouched in a stool against the wall.   
  
Approaching the man, Sora was a quiet as possible, deftly creeping up to his side. Poke. Poke. Poke. Nothing.  
  
He turned away, taking four steps back towards the anvil before whirling around, and shouting in the man's ear, "Hey!"  
  
Still nothing. Most excellent! With a cheerful little whistle, he returned to the task at hand-- removing his irons. It was an awkward position to be in, trying to get those chains off. The hammer and anvil was of little help, simply denting the metal instead of breaking it, or weakening it to the point of breaking as he had hoped. Dammit all.  
  
Now he had to find another way to break the chains. Casting about the shop, his eyes landed upon a sleepy donkey, and he grinned widely. There we are, the perfect answer to his problems!  
  
Lifting a metal rod from the heat and flames of the smithy's fire, he approached the donkey carefully, quietly. A mischievous smile lit his lips as he smacked the hot end of the rod against the beast's rear end, sending the poor thing into movement. The rod dropped to the ground, and Sora jammed the chains into the spokes of the sprocket that the donkey was turning. Soon enough, the metal shrieked and broke, leaving him with a rather interesting new pair of bracelets.  
  
"Slave fashion, eh?" he grinned at the still moving donkey, somewhat amused by the pink bow in the animal's tail. A girl must have come by recently to put it in, he thought, his grin widening further.   
  
He turned, ready to gather his things and leave the shop-- somewhat disheartened by having to stay on land even longer, just to wait until the fervor ended and he could go back to pillaging ports-- when a noise stopped him dead in his tracks. Looking towards the door, Sora frowned, and snatched up his sword, going for the shadows. Someone was entering.  
  
Combing his fingers through silvery strands, Riku sighed a bit heavily. It was always a bit saddening to have to leave Kairi's company-- especially with what she had just been through!-- but there was work to be done, and he couldn't just be running about not doing it. It wasn't like his 'master' would be doing any of it.   
  
At this thought, he shot a look at the older man, sprawled as he was, in the corner, and nodded, "Right where I left you."  
  
Off came the fancy, stuffy jacket he was required to wear when visiting the governor, and dropping off his orders. Beneath, the blacksmith wore what he always wore-- a pair of dark pants, and what Kairi had some referred to as his "painfully bright" yellow shirt. Could he help it if he liked his shirt? Besides, it looked nice with his pale hair and tanned skin. Not that he would ever admit to anyone that he was a vain man.   
  
Of course, the dark vest he wore over it also helped the eyes with the bordering-on-to-small shirt that he'd been wearing for years. It was all good.  
  
On came his dark work gloves, as he reached for his hammer, only to find it not where he left it. With a frown, he looked for the object, only to have his eyes land on the well worn dark fabric of what appeared to be a captain's hat. Curious, he reached for it, only to have the flat of a blade crack against the back of his hand. The sting was ignored as he looked up from his task and into bright blue eyes that were no little amount familiar. How... odd. Still, the man's garb, and the dark tan on his skin made it all to obvious who the man was.  
  
"You're one they're hunting. The pirate."  
  
"That I am," Sora tipped his head slightly, never taking his eyes from the younger man's face. It looked very... familiar for some reason. Not one to keep things inside, he frowned, "Have I threatened you before? You seem somewhat familiar."  
  
So he feels it too, Riku mused slightly, before mentally shaking his head. Now is not the time, Riku-boy, "I make a point of avoiding familiarity with pirates."  
  
"Ah, well," the pirate grinned, dropping his blade from where he had it aimed at the boy, "It would be a shame to put a black mark on your record. So, if you'll excuse me..." the pirate turned, picking up his hat and settling it on his head. He barely got one step before Riku had swept a sword off the rack, and had it pointed at the 'villain'. Sora frowned, twisting back to face the silver haired one.   
  
Up came his own sword, and he scratched the boy's blade with his, "Do you think it wise to cross blades with a pirate, boy?"  
  
"You threatened Kairi," Riku half growled, ocean-blue eyes flashing with anger. Again, the sense of familiarity fluttered around in Sora's head, and he wondered what it was about the child that struck that cord. Maybe he shouldn't have had all that rum earlier in the day; it was clouding his thoughts.  
  
"Only a little," Sora smirked, and besides, he added mentally as Riku lunged, and he parried, the girl already knows there wasn't any intent behind it. I told her as much, after all. The clang of metal on metal brought him back to the present, and he was impressed by the boy's skill with the blade. He, himself, had to do quite a bit of work to keep up with the lad, but he wasn't about to speak that aloud. Instead, the words that came from his mouth were slightly taunting, "You know what you're doing, I'll give you that. Excellent form, but how's your footwork?"  
  
About and about they went, blades flashing as Sora made a step, and Riku countered it. Sora gifted the boy with a benign smile and a slightly mocking bow, as he found himself with his back to the door, "Now I step again. Ta!" and he leapt back, headed for the door.   
  
Riku blinked for a few moments, surprised by the abrupt halt to his sword play, before getting his bearings. Sora was just reaching for the door, when the sword Riku had been using imbedded, blade first, about an inch, inch and a half through the door's locking mechanism and forcing it to remain shut. Sora could still feel a slight breeze, where it had barely missed his head. Startled, the pirate turned to look at the blacksmith, before returning his attention to the sword. Hand-over-hand, he grabbed the hilt and pommel, and began to tug. Yet, nothing he tried could free the blade from it's position. It was surprising, it was amazing, it was down right creepy how bloody familiar it was!   
  
Now he _knew_ he shouldn't have let himself drink almost to stupidity before going ship shopping.  
  
"That is a wonderful trick-- except that once again you are between me and my way out. And now, you have no weapon!" With these words, Sora jumped down, swinging through where Riku had been, as the young man jumped back, pulling a half-finished sword from the fires, and baring it before the other man. Eyes wide, Sora stared into his opponent's eyes. Again, they launched into battle, sparks flying from the heated tip of the blade, every time it struck upon the pirate's.   
  
Around and around they went, until Sora managed to disarm Riku, "Again, you are without a..." but his grin and sentence faded away as Riku snatched up a blade, and the pirate finally looked around to find an impressive number of swords standing in racks on the walls, "Who makes all these?"  
  
"I do," Riku grinned, blades crossed again, "And I practice with them three hours a day!"  
  
Sora grinned back at him, "You need to find yourself a girl, mate!" The flash of blades as they returned to battle, "Or, perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day is that you already found one, and are otherwise incapable of wooing said strumpet. You're not a eunuch, are you?" His glance down caused Riku to flush and scowl at him, jumping back.  
  
"I practice," the boy growled, "to makes sure the blades are useable, pirate."  
  
"Eh, good a reason as any," Sora shrugged, smirking as they went into battle again. It was nearly ten minutes of parry-thrust-parry and similar bouts of offense and defense, including a rather amusing bout of bouncing about in the shop's rafters, before Riku disarmed his opponent. Sora had been predicting this, however, and grinned, reaching for a sandbag that hung from the ceiling.   
  
The bag tore, and Riku cried out in pain as it blasted him in the face. Wiping the tiny rocks from his eyes, and spitting some out of his mouth, he looked up, only to have to cross his eyes as a pistol stared him in the face. Riku glowered at the man, "You cheated!"  
  
"Pirate," Sora reminded him with a cheerful little smirk, and the toss of his head, sending beads and bones clattering against one another. It was only then, that the pair realized that there were men at the front entrance of the shop, and they were standing before the back. Obviously, the soldiers had heard the commotion and correctly guessed that the pirate was within. Sora gave the boy a pained look, "Move away."  
  
"No."  
  
"Please, move," there was a strained note in his voice.  
  
"No!" Riku snapped back, wondering at the clenching feeling as he saw Sora's pleading eyes. Damn this familiarity between them! "I cannot just step aside and let you escape!"  
  
"This shot is not meant for you, son," Sora half growled, hand shaking as he cocked the gun and prepared to fire. Riku bit the inside of his cheek, wondering what he was to do now, when the decision was taken out of his hands. The door burst open at the same moment, his 'master' reared back and cracked Sora across the back of the head with his rum bottle. Obviously, not even the drunken blacksmith could have slept through their little bout of battle.  
  
"Excellent work," Loire's cool voice washed over them, and Aeris stood at his side, as always. The woman was certainly remarkable, Riku thought somewhat distantly as she congratulated the senior blacksmith. Ten years spent masquerading as a man before being injured in Loire's company, and needing medical attention. In fact, to the rest of the navy, excluding a small circle residing on Destiny Island, Aeris was still known to be a man-- although going by the name Aerith. How she managed to do anything in the navy with her personality was a mystery.  
  
"Just doing my civic duty, sir," the older man slurred, and was ignored as Loire nudged the pirate with the toe of his multiple buckled boot.   
  
"Take him away."  
  
---  
  
"Come here, boy! Nice juicy bone! Come here, come on!"  
  
"You can keep doing that forever, the dog is never going to move," Sora muttered, eyes closed, hat tipped down over his face. He hated being in jails. They were always such a pain; getting in was easy, it was getting out that was always the problem.  
  
"Oh, excuse us, if we haven't resigned ourselves the gallows just yet," snipped one of the other prisoners, and Sora rolled his eyes at the tone. Didn't they get it? The dog was _trained_ to hold the keys just out of reach. It had been one of Loire's favorite tactics when he had been a pirate, and it certainly seemed to be the same now. Give the prisoner a false hope, and it was all that much more amusing to watch them break.   
  
With a sigh, he returned his attention back to what he'd been doing before-- trying to figure out why the blacksmith was so damned familiar.  
  
---  
  
Warmth spread through the blanket, and Kairi smiled, looking up from her book as the maid adjusted the bed warmer, "There you go, Miss. It was a difficult day for you, I'm sure."  
  
She nodded slightly, "I must admit, I didn't think Commodore Loire would propose to me, despite father's words."  
  
"Well, I meant you being threatened by that pirate," the girl shivered, "Sounds terrifying."  
  
"Oh, yes, it was... terrifying," the last word was spoken dryly, but the maid apparently didn't catch the tone. It had been startling, for certain, but... terrifying? No, not really. Sora Sparrow, despite using her as a hostage had been quite gentle about it, and had even apologized. As horrid the tales of pirates she'd heard before, she'd never really heard any tales of Captain Sora Sparrow ever causing intentional harm to anyone-- and given some of the stories of the man that circulated in this area... that was quite the accomplishment.  
  
"But the Commodore proposed?" the maid sounded rather dreamy, and Kairi had to remind herself that the majority of women on the island found the man handsome-- while at the same time, had never had to deal with him for long periods of time. She, on the other hand, was very well acquainted with his personality, and she found it a wonder that Aeris could even put up with the man. Then again, it _was_ Aeris...  
  
"Fancy that," the girl was continuing, "that's a smart match, if it's not too bold to say."  
  
"He's a fine man," Kairi murmured, not exactly happy with the thought of marrying the man, but knowing why he'd done it anyways, "He's what any woman should dream of marrying." But not her. Any woman but her. She had different ideas about the sort of man _she_ wanted to marry.  
  
"Well, that Riku Turner... he's a fine man, too."  
  
"That is too bold," was Kairi's sharp response. Riku? Marrying? Somehow, she didn't see that happening any time soon-- now, or in the future. Riku just... didn't seem the type to marry, always so involved in his work, or in his training. Not that she, herself, was any better, the governor's daughter reflected, thinking of the two blades hidden between her mattresses.  
  
"Well, begging your pardon, Miss, it was not my place," the girl tipped her head and left the room. Sighing, Kairi waited a few minutes to see if the girl would come back. The flickering of her candlelight brought her up short however, and a chill ran down her spine. Something was wrong.  
  
Rolling out from beneath her covers, she landed lightly on two feet, withdrawing both her blades, and a pair of britches that had been hidden within. Wriggling into the pants was hardly a task that merited the amount of time she spent on it, but nervousness, and that coldness in the pit of her stomach made it a bit harder than she had predicted. Her blades, on the other hand, in their specially designed belt, took only a moment to sling around her waist beneath her nightgown.  
  
In their scabbards, the two blades looked merely like a pair of tonfa-- the wooden weapons she had first taught herself to use back in England, before rescuing Riku. She had continued her self-training in the weapons, eventually revealing them to Riku, in order to get help. As children, they trained with each other, helping to perfect the use of their own chosen weapon, and as young teens had taken to putting actual force behind blows when they fought, although that had taken years to convince Riku that she could handle the bruises, lacerations, and cuts that resulted from their training.  
  
Then, two years prior, Riku had gifted her with the bladed tonfa she now wore. He felt it would have been best for her to be able to inflict more than just bruises or broken bones on an attacker, especially as he had begun to take control of the smithy, and could no longer accompany her everywhere. She had been delighted with the gift-- the leather bound 'scabbards' were metal and fit the blades perfectly, allowing that the weapons to have the full impact, even when sheathed.  
  
  
  
It was a precautionary thing, and likely completely unneeded, but Kairi felt better with the weapons under her gown.   
  
She doubted she'd get any sleep this night.  
  
---  
  
"Has my daughter given you an answer yet?"  
  
"No, she hasn't."  
  
"Well, she has had a very trying day," the governor sighed, looking out over the waters, Loire at his side. The commodore was quiet, as usual, and it hardly bothered the older man anymore. Eight years had given him enough time to grow accustomed to the silences that often filled the air between Leon Loire and anyone who tried to speak with him, "Ghastly weather, don't you think?"  
  
"Bleak. Very--" Leon cut himself off, eyes searching the waters as his ears twitched, something deep within warning him of trouble.  
  
"What's that?" the governor looked confused, both at Loire having cut off so abruptly, and at the faint sound of... gunpowder?  
  
"Cannon fire!" Leon bellowed, sweeping the governor out of harms way, and whirling about to face his men, "Return fire!" Explosions came now, from both near and far, and the Commodore didn't even look at the Governor as he commanded the man to flee. It was not safe up on the battlements, but neither would it be safe in the streets of the port. The pirates would be entering the town, and it would be all they could do to fend them off.   
  
It would be best for the governor to be safely barricaded in the Commodore's office-- and that, was what Loire snapped at him, ignoring his own dislike for speaking to long. This was a time when any misheard words could quite possibly loose them their governor.  
  
---  
  
The sound of explosions brought him out of his thoughts, and Sora bounded to his feet, staring out the small, barred window of the fortress' jails, "I know those guns-- it's the Pearl!"  
  
"The Black Pearl?" whispered the same prisoner that had been snapping at him earlier in the night, "I've heard stories... she's been preying on ships and settlements for near ten years. Never leaves any survivors!"  
  
Sora's bright eyes glittered darkly, a smirk crossing his lips, "No survivors? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?"  
  
---  
  
Sword? Check.  
  
Knife? Check.  
  
Hatchet? Check.  
  
Will to destroy all pirates in the town? Check.  
  
No other thoughts in his mind, the young blacksmith darted out of his shop, ready to defend his town until the end of his own life. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, but there was little hope that he'd survive.   
  
Barely out of the door, and he'd already struck down a pirate, hatchet impacting in the man's back. Ripping it out, the youth continued onwards, fighting off the eerie feeling that there was something dreadfully familiar about these men, these pirates. Something that tickled his senses, and said 'I know this. I've been here before.'  
  
---  
  
She could see them, crashing through the ornate iron gates, and she went bolting out of her room and on to the landing of the stairs. A knocking came at the door, and her shout of "Don't!" came to late, as the door swung open on the butler, revealing the grimy, dirty, cracked faces of the pirates that were raiding the port. A tall fellow, dressed in surprisingly ornate-- yet still dirty-- clothing was at the forefront, and he was aiming a gun at the butler's head. His voice was almost a hiss as he spoke, "Hello chump."  
  
The butler went down, and Kairi yelped without meaning to. Several eyes turned to look at her, and one of the pirates-- she didn't know which one, shouted, "Girl!"  
  
Her feet carried her up and back into her room, her hands flashing as she locked the chamber doors. It wouldn't do much good, and she was panicked beyond all belief-- to the point of even forgetting the weapons beneath her nightgown. The panicked maid at her side was babbling.  
  
"Miss Swann, they've come to kidnap you! You're the Governor's daughter!"  
  
"They haven't seen you," Kairi hissed as they pounded at the door, "Hide, and as fast as you can, run to the fort!"  
  
"Yes, Miss Swann!" the girl raced off, darting for the servants passages that Kairi didn't realize were there. It wouldn't matter, anyways, the pirates were chasing after her, and even if she had known of the passages, it would only put others in danger when the pirates realized where she had gone off to. She knew for a fact, that despite being rude, horrible people, pirates were not necessarily stupid.  
  
Heart racing, Kairi looked for her own hiding place, and found the only one she could see-- her closet. Darting within, she sunk to the ground, forcing herself to breath shallowly, trying to prevent herself from being found. Oh, this was just a horrid day; what she wouldn't give to be 'threatened' by Sora again. At least then, she knew she wasn't going to die. With these ones... she had no idea/  
  
"We know you're here, Poppet," came the hissing voice of the tall man again.   
  
"Poppet," repeated another voice, this one cracked with amusement.  
  
"Come out and we promises we won't hurt you. We will find you, Poppet. You've got something of ours..." he trailed off for a moment, and she had the sinking feeling he was looking at her closet, where she sat, gripping the medallion still about her neck. Slowly, she stood, preparing to meet her end on both feet, still not remembering the tonfa at her hip, "It calls to us... The gold calls to us..."  
  
The light that had been spilling into the dark closet was suddenly cut off, and she looked up, seeing the tall one's dark eye peering through the crack between the closet doors, "'Ello, Poppet."  
  
"Parlay!" she squeaked, mind racing, looking for an out. It was the first she had come across, and now that she thought about it, it was a good idea.  
  
"What?" came the grumpy voice of the pirate behind the tall man. He was stout, with long dark hair that looked like he should have been wearing a hat. One hand was missing, and at the end of it was a crudely made wooden hook.   
  
"Parlay," she repeated, hoping she was remembering this correctly-- it had been a few years, after all, "I invoke the right of parlay. According to the code of the brethren, set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you have to take me to your Captain.  
  
"I know the code," spat the tall one.  
  
"If an adversary demands parlay, you can do them no harm until the parlay is complete!"  
  
"To blazes with the code!" snapped the hooked one.  
  
"She wants to be taken to the Captain, Hook. And she'll go without a fuss. We must honor the code," there was something dark in his voice that sent chills down Kairi's spine. Yeap, something bad was going to happen, and she had a feeling that it was a damned good idea that she hadn't, in fact, remembered her tonfa until that moment. She may have to use them at some point in the near future.  
  
---  
  
"Say G'bye!"  
  
"Goodbye," Riku smirked, ducking as the shops' sign finally gave way and slammed into the pirate that moments before had been on the verge of killing him. With a laugh, Riku stepped away, only to catch sight of something that startled him beyond belief.  
  
"Kairi!" she was being led away from the governor's house, and towards the docks, by a pair of pirates that looked none to friendly. Worriedly, he tried to go after her, only to be blocked by a familiar face.   
  
The first pirate he had killed that night stood cheerfully before him, and pointed down at Riku's feet. There, a sparking bomb had landed, and Riku's eyes widened. Shit, this would-- it fizzled out. Ah, so it wasn't going to hurt at all. He made as though to attack the pirate, only to find himself slumping to the ground, consciousness fleeing. The last thing he heard before being knocked out by the hit to the back of his head was, "Outta my way, scum."  
  
---  
  
"Shit," it was the only warning any of the prisoners had, as Sora threw himself away from the wall, where he had been watching the battle below with some interest. The cannonball slammed through the wall, but unfortunately for the bright-eyed pirate, it went through the wall of the cell beside his, freeing the four men in there, and only giving him a tiny little window to view out of. The last prisoner out, and annoyingly, the one that had been snappish one, turned back to face him, when braced in the hole.  
  
"My sympathies friend, you've no manner of luck at all."  
  
"No kidding," Sora grumbled, watching him leave, then turning to the front of the cell. There had to be a way out-- there just had to be! Sadly, the only thing he could see was the large bone and the dog. Maybe he had more patience than the dog? He could always hope.  
  
"Come on, doggy. It's just you and me now. It's you an ol'Sora; Squall woulda told you about me, right? Well come on then. Come on, good boy. That's it, good boy, come on!" The dog was actually inching closer, but hardly as close as he needed to be for Sora to get the key ring from the dog's mouth, "Bit closer, bit closer. That's it, doggy. Come on you filthy, slimy, mangy cat..."  
  
Both dog and man were startled by the sound of gunfire on the stairs, but while Sora remained caged in, the dog ran off, deeper into the prison, "No, no, no, no, no, I didn't mean it. I didn't..." he trailed off at the sight of a red coated body crashing down the stairs. Two forms came down after it, and the second scowled, pale skin highlighted by his black, raggedy clothes, that almost looked like a toga the way they were thrown on. The other pirate was dark of skin and hair.  
  
"This ain't the armory," the second one snapped, while the first scanned the immediate area. His eyes landed on the slowly standing pirate within the prison, and his lips curved back.  
  
"Well, well, well, look what we have here, Hades-- Captain Sora Sparrow."  
  
Hades snorted, spitting on the ground before the cell door, "Last time I saw you, you were all alone on a godforsaken little island, shrinking into the distance. Your fortunes haven't improved much."  
  
"Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen," Sora half purred, bright eyes darkening with aged fury, "The deepest circle of Hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers." The dark skinned one's hand went through the bars, ensnaring Sora by the throat and holding him up.  
  
Sora's eyes widened as he looked down at the arm that held him, and a chill went through the pirate captain's body. The arm was shadow, completely and totally, licks of darkness flickering off of the body in the moonlight. He could feel the man's claw-like fingers digging into the soft flesh of his throat, "So... there is a curse. That's interesting."  
  
"You know nothing of Hell," the man snarled, before letting go of Sora's throat, and following Hades out of the prison. Sora tapped the bone he still held lightly against his hip, eyes dark as thoughts raised. A smirk curved his lips.  
  
"That's very interesting..."  
  
---  
  
"We're not taking captives, Jafar," the waspish, female voice cut through the air, and Kairi found herself face to face with a pale skinned woman, wearing black from head to toe, and with the strangest hat she had ever seen in her life upon her head. The woman's high collar was neat and crisp, but the rest of her clothing looked dirty and worn like the rest of the pirates aboard the ship.  
  
"She's invoked the right of parlay with Captain Ansem," Jafar returned coolly, hardly impressed with the tall woman's frightening posture.  
  
"I am here to negoti--" but her words were cut off as the woman pirate's hand cracked against the younger female's face.   
  
"You will speak when spoken to," the woman snapped, but another hand grabbed her wrist, and she turned slightly to meet the amused eyes of her captain.   
  
The pale, white hair of the Captain shone, even in the darkness of the cloud-covered moon, and his lips were curved into a none-to-pleasant grin, "And ye'll not lay a hand on those under the protection of parlay, Malificent."  
  
"Aye sir," but she hardly sounded apologetic.  
  
"My apologies Miss..."  
  
"Captain Ansem," Kairi ignored the subtle asking of her name, "I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Destiny Island."  
  
"There are a lot of long words in there, Miss, we're naught but humble pirates. What is that you want?"  
  
"I want to you leave and never come back," it didn't sound as impressive coming from her mouth as it had when she'd heard it from the commodore when he was banishing a man from Destiny Island-- banishing, because he hadn't really done anything wrong, but they just could not have the man in the port anymore.  
  
Ansem's lips quirked, "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request... means no."  
  
"Very well," Kairi shrugged, more calmly than she felt inside. She took three steps to the edge of the boat, and held out the reason that she figured they had come to Destiny Island. It wasn't that hard, actually-- Jafar had made the mistake of mentioning gold, and it was the only bit of gold she had on her, "I'll drop it." And out of her hand swung the medallion she'd stolen from Riku those years ago.  
  
"My holds are burstin' with swag, and that bit of shine matters to us? Why?"  
  
"It's what you've been searching for-- I recognize the ship. I saw it eight years ago on the crossing from England."  
  
"Did ye now?" Ansem looked amused, hardly what she was going for. Dammit, they were supposed to fall to her manipulat... wait. A secretive little smile crossed her lips, and Ansem frowned slightly. What was the girl up to...?  
  
"Fine, well, I suppose if it is worthless, than there's really no point in me keeping it," and she let it drop-- not completely, but to the point of where the chain was tangled around her fingers. She was smirking, eyebrow raised, as the pirates realized that they had lunged, as one, when it had slipped through her fingers.   
  
"Ah," Ansem nodded, slightly impressed at the deviousness of the girl. She might have made a good pirate, had the situation been different, "Do you have a name, Miss?"  
  
"Kairi... Kairi Turner," she hesitated only slightly, but figured Riku wouldn't mind her borrowing his name for a bit. There was no way she was telling them that she was the governor's daughter, "I'm a maid in the Governor's household."  
  
"Miss Turner...?" now that name was a bit of a surprise to the pirate captain, and he grinned slightly. Behind him, Jafar murmured a surprised, "Bootstrap..."  
  
"And how does a maid come to own a trinket such as that?" Ansem queried, eyes narrow, "Family heirloom, perhaps?"  
  
"I didn't steal it if that's what you're implying," Kairi returned, mentally wincing. Yes, she'd stolen it-- but that had been eight years ago, and Riku had never asked about it. Therefore, he probably thought it lost, and she didn't have to worry in the slightest about him getting mad at her for giving it to pirates.  
  
"Very well. You hand it over, and we'll put your town to our rudder and never return."  
  
"Our bargain?" she wondered, letting the medallion settle in the pale palm of the almost demonic-looking man.   
  
"Still the guns and stow 'em, call back the men," Malificent snapped, turning her attention to the pirates aboard the ship.   
  
"Wait! You have to take me to shore! According to the code of the order of the brethren--" but Kairi's words were cut off by Ansem's chill voice.  
  
"First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations, nor our agreement, so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply, and you're not. And thirdly, the code more what you'd call... guidelines, than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner!"  
  
---  
  
"They've taken her. They've taken Kairi," Riku's sudden arrival at the temporary command tent-- given that the fortress was currently mostly rubble-- was punctuated by his agitated voice. Loire ignored him, preferring to look over the map and try to puzzle out where the woman in question could possibly be.  
  
"We have to hunt them down, we must save her!" Riku pressed, trying his damnedest to keep the panic out of his voice. Kairi was his closest friend, and he loved her like he loved no other. He wasn't about to let her just be taken away from him!  
  
"And where do you propose we start?" came the strained voice of his friend's father, "If you have any information concerning my daughter, please, share it."  
  
"That Sora Sparrow," Hercules put in, tipping his head back in thought, "He talked about the Black Pearl."  
  
"Mentioned it, is more what he did," Aladdin muttered, rolling his eyes at his friend's words.   
  
"Ask him where it is-- make a deal with him, he could lead us to it!" there was something in him that swore Sparrow would be able to help. He had no idea what it was, but he was damned sure of it. Some little part of his mind was also whispering that Loire knew this, but he couldn't figure out why the Commodore wasn't going to Sparrow to ask.  
  
"No," Leon muttered, still not looking up, "They left Sparrow in his cell. Ergo, they are not allies. Governor, we will establish their most likely course--"  
  
"That's not bloody good enough!" Riku spat, his hatchet, complete with a pirate's dried blood on the blade, sunk into the wood of the table, although hardly deep enough to be considered a problem.   
  
"Mister Turner," stormy eyes meet ocean-blues, and Riku felt something inside clench at the fury barely leashed in those orbs, "You are a blacksmith. Not a soldier, not a sailor. This is not the time for rash actions." His hatchet pulled free, Riku stared at it for a moment before taking it from Loire's hand. Whirling, he practically stomped out of the tent, one goal in mind-- the prison.   
  
It took very little time, before he found himself at the prison's entrance. He could hear Sparrow muttering to himself as he came down the stairs, although when he entered, it looked like the man had been sleeping. The broken bone, worked into the lock of the door, said otherwise, however, and Riku frowned at the figure sprawled in the hay of the cell.  
  
What was it about this man that made it seem like he knew him? The dark boots, red-brown pants, red-brown jacket and white shirt were normal fair. His beaded hair was a bit of an oddity, although he was sure there were other pirates out there that did similar. Charcoal lined the man's eyes, and his skin was tanned from years on the waters. A glint of silver around his neck caught Riku's attention, and he blinked.  
  
Like Loire, the pirate wore a silver pendant about his throat, but unlike Loire it was not of an animal. This one, instead, was of a simple, two-dimensional silver crown. How... unusual.   
  
Oh well, it mattered little, as Riku barked a sharp, "Sparrow!"  
  
"Aye?" came the lazy question from the man on the floor, tipping back his hat to gaze coolly at the other.  
  
"You are familiar with that ship, the Black Pearl?" how could he not be? Even Riku had heard the tales.  
  
"I've heard of it," was the amused response.  
  
"Where does it make berth?"  
  
"Where does it make berth?" a dark eyebrow rose, and Sora pushed himself up on both arms to give the boy an incredulous stare, "Have you not heard the stories? Captain Ansem and his crew of miscreants sailed from the dreaded Isle de Bastion. It's an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is."  
  
"The ship's real enough. Therefore, its anchorage must be a real place," reasoned the silver haired youth, although he didn't know why he was, "Where is it?"  
  
"Why ask me?" and the pirate turned to studying his grimy nails. Riku rolled his eyes at that. His nails were probably so dirty already that it didn't matter if he washed them ten thousand times, the dirt would never go away, and would forever be beneath his nails. Lord knew, Riku's own blacksmith's hands were in that state already, and he was barely nineteen.  
  
"Because you're a pirate."  
  
"And you want to turn pirate yourself, is that it?"  
  
I am a pirate, whispered a voice that Riku had learned, nearly ten years ago, to tune out. It never said anything that actually made sense. Still, it's declaration that he was a pirate was... odd. Not to mention annoying. Still, he ignored it as always and snorted, "Not bloody likely. They took Kairi."  
  
"Ah, so it is that you've found a girl. I see... well, if you're intending to brave all, hasten to her rescue and so win fair lady's heart--" he ignored Riku small laugh and muttered 'Yeah right', "-- you'll have to do it alone, mate. I see no profit in it for me."  
  
"I can get you out of here," it was actually the bargain he'd thought up when coming down in the first place, but there was no need to inform Sora of that, so he hesitated momentarily before bringing it up. Sora laughed.  
  
"How's that? The key's run off."  
  
"I helped build these cells," Riku informed him with a smirk that Sora could have sworn he'd seen somewhere before, "These are half pun-barrel hinges. With the right leverage, and proper application of strength, the door will lift free." Just to tease the pirate with the possibility of escape, he lifted a bench that was often used for the soldiers on guard to sit on, and mock the prisoners. The legs of it fit between the bars of the cell, and he let it hang there as he looked at the pirate he was about to break free.  
  
Sora was watching him closely, "What's your name, boy?"  
  
"Riku Turner."  
  
"No doubt named for your father, right?" Ah, another interesting thing to add to his list of things he'd learned. This could be quite... useful.  
  
"Yes." No, not really, Riku thought. Like he cared if Sparrow believed him to be named after the father he never knew. It wasn't like it would hinder in any way, and it might just help his case. All he needed was for Sparrow to help him out-- he didn't need to know that Riku had no idea of his mother's name, let alone the father he was pretty damned sure he never met. His memories from the time before being hauled aboard the ship eight years prior were hazy and indistinct, although from time to time he got hints and clues of who he had been, and what life had been like for those missing eleven years of his life.  
  
"Aha," Sora grinned, "Well Mister Turner, I've changed me mind. If you spring me from this cell, I swear on pain of death, I shall take you to the Black Pearl and your bonny lass. Do we have an accord?"  
  
Riku looked down at the hand extended through the bars, and he smiled to himself. A little lie never hurt, especially when it got him what he wanted, "Agreed."  
  
"Good, get me out."  
  
And the door came free with a tremendous crash that caused the blacksmith to wince, "Hurry, someone will have heard that."  
  
"Not without my effects!" Sora barked, jumping over to take hold of the items that were practically on display upon the far wall. There was no way in hell that he was leaving those behind; he'd kept hold of them for almost a decade, he wasn't about to leave them behind now!  
  
---  
  
End Part Two.  
  
Riku: This only gets weirder.  
  
Kairi: Is there something wrong with me?  
  
Sora: Huh? Why do you ask, Kairi?  
  
Kairi: Riku doesn't seem to be falling for me. He's supposed to be in love with me.  
  
Riku: No. William is in love with Elizabeth. I am not in love with you. I never have been. I never will be.  
  
Sora: What about that thing with the Paommph!  
  
Riku: *hand clamped around Sora's mouth* No need to be bringing _that_ up, Sora.  
  
Kairi: Bringing what up?  
  
Riku: It's nothing... Sora, don't lick my hand unless you're prepared to go through with it.  
  
Sora: *pulls Riku's hand away* Uh... Kairi...?  
  
Kairi: Yes?  
  
Sora: I think Riku's gone insane. Did he say what I think he just did?  
  
Kairi: Yes Sora, he did. And he's not insane-- he's _always_ been like this.  
  
Sora: Really?  
  
Riku & Kairi: *sigh* Yes, Sora. 


	3. Part Three

37.3Kb/15 pages, without author's notes. These seem to be getting shorter, but I just chopped the 41 page script into eight-page pieces. I'm pretty sure this is the part that was only seven pages, as it would have gone on to about ten if I cut it up the way I was doing. Oh well.   
  
We're about halfway through now-- there are six parts planned. Although part six is kinda short, since I mucked around with the ending of the movie. (Obviously, like Kairi & Riku didn't almost give it away in Part One)  
  
More amusing cast commentary at the end of this one, folks. I find those cast commentaries just to be to amusing not to continue. They're like their own little story!  
  
Be assured, that this is the fastest I've ever written something. It's quite fun. So is trying to mash together Sora and Jack's personalities. Not to mention Riku and Will's. Kairi and Elizabeth's... well, I've obviously given up on that.   
  
Now, for the reviews...  
  
Kawaiiroxy - Why does your name remind me of Kojikocy? Er, right, back on track. I'm glad you like the story, and as I have stated before, there is a reason for why I'm made Sora Jack and Riku Will. It's explained slightly in this chapter, actually. But only slightly. Vaguely, even. You might have to look hard to catch it.  
  
Arcander - I find the conversations amusing, as previously stated. Very glad you like my fic; it's been kicking about in my head since the second time I saw PotC, actually. I just didn't start working on it until I got the DVD.  
  
MiDnIgHt-JaGuAr - Your name is hard to write ^_^;; I was already mad before I took on that task, but hey, what does that matter? ((I have watched PotC so many times that I can pretty much speak the entire movie word-for-word along with it ^_^;;)) I'm going to keep going until the end of the movie. After that, well... it all depends on the reviews I get for it ^__^  
  
Alana Hikari-Chan - Jo scares me. Jo seriously scares me. Ursula and Malificent? *shudders* I pity you for having to deal with Jo. Except for when Jo imagines lemon scenes. Because, to be honest, that's half-way what I was imagining when I wrote those little conversations at the end (as is evidenced by this part's...) Squall when he was a pirate, ah, that would have been amusing. Makes me almost want to write a prequel involving the Pirates of the Black Pearl BEFORE Sora went stupid and let Ansem be the first mate.  
  
Disclaimer is in Part One.  
  
--------  
  
Pirates of Destiny Isle  
  
Part Three  
  
Priest Li Xiang  
  
--------  
  
Standing in the shade that was produced both by the trees and by the bridge that not twenty-four hours before, Sora had run across being shot at, Riku found himself blinking incredulously. Before he and his frighteningly familiar pirate partner lay the Ragnarok in all its glory. The silver haired youth stared at the man with him, "We're going to steal a ship?"  
  
"Commandeer," Sora corrected absently, "We're going to commandeer that ship. S'nautical term." With a tap to his chin, a thought struck the Captain and he whirled, beads flying every which way as he did so, "One question about your business, boy, else there's no use going. This girl... how far are you willing to go to save her?"  
  
Riku frowned in confusion, "I'd give my life for her."  
  
"Oh good. No worries then!" The cheerful way Sparrow spoke, caused the young Turner to worry slightly, but he pushed it out of his mind. After all, the annoying voice spoke up again, you've survived worse before. Riku gave himself a moment to wonder what, exactly, was so much worse that he'd survived, before shrugging and following Sora down to the beach. Apparently the pirate had some insane idea for how to get onto the boat. Quite frankly, it seemed a little suicidal, but no less than ten minutes later, he found himself trudging through the waters, feet sinking into the soft sand, with a boat over his head, and a small supply of oxygen.  
  
"This is either madness or brilliance."  
  
"Remarkable how often those two traits coincide, eh?" was Sora's amused response, having had a similar conversation come about several years back; although this Turner did not pursue the matter. Somewhat disappointing, as Sora had been looking forwards to explaining it-- yet again-- because he always did get a kick out of that conversation. Ah, the old days, when being a pirate was so much simpler.  
  
And so much more boring, he added a moment later, deciding that being perpetually drunk did, indeed, make things more fun.  
  
Scaling the side of the Ragnarok was a simple task, for one such as Captain Sora Sparrow, and Riku was surprisingly good at it. If Sora didn't know the boy had a dislike of pirates, he'd have thought him an old hand at the trade. Smirking, with gun in hand, the pirate strolled quite leisurely onto the ship's deck, a smooth, "Everyone stay calm, we are taking over the ship," as his greeting.   
  
The incredulous stares of the few men aboard, as well as Aeris' flat, though slightly amused, gaze greeted them, and Riku pulled a tight smile in response, lifting his sword into a guard position. Tensed and ready, the boy practically screamed 'Look at me, this is the first time I've ever committed an act of piracy!'  
  
All ignored him, as Aeris gave her attention to the actual pirate, "This ship cannot be crewed by two men. You'll never make it out of the bay."  
  
"My dear," Sora tipped his head, eyes half lidded as he smiled, pointing his pistol directly between the female lieutenant's eyes, "I'm Captain Sora Sparrow, savvy?"  
  
---  
  
"Commodore!"  
  
Slightly annoyed at the interruption, Leon Loire looked up from his work to see one of the new recruits pointing out into the bay, with a surprised look on his face. Curious, although not showing the emotion, Loire turned out to look over the bay, and raised a speculative eyebrow. For there, in a life boat, stood Aeris and the men she had with her on the Ragnarok. The female cupped her hands to her mouth to shout to her commanding officer, "Sir! They've taken the Ragnarok! Sparrow and Turner have taken the Ragnarok!"  
  
Lifting the spyglass to his eye, the Commodore found himself gazing at the sight of the two men aboard the Ragnarok, trying to unfurl the sails. For some reason, the image struck a cord, and he frowned. Hadn't he seen something similar to this, years ago during his pirating days? But no, he could not recall what had happened back then, a side from the fact that Sparrow had been involved at the time. Bah, it mattered little.   
  
"Rash Turner," he was surprised to find himself murmuring, "Without a doubt, the worst pirate I have ever seen." And, given his own pirating days, that was saying something.  
  
It took little time to have the Highwind ready to set sail, and even then, the Ragnarok had not managed to leave the bay. This would be child's play, retrieving the stolen ship, and locking both Sparrow and Turner away for piracy. Still, for some reason, he had a sinking feeling, and he couldn't quite figure out why that was.  
  
Of course, he realized not long after, he should have known. Sparrow was an old hand at the game of stealing ships out from under a man's nose; he'd used this particular trick before. Take a ship, have the ship you really want chase after you-- skip over to that ship once the crew of it is on the ship you've stolen. Let the wind guide you.   
  
Loire sighed, as one of the men took it upon himself to command the others to get the Highwind in range of the long nines, "That won't work, crewman"  
  
Surprised, he turned to the Commodore, "Sir?"  
  
"It's most likely that Sparrow has disabled the rudder chain." Not a moment later, another crewman came up to them, repeating the words.  
  
Yes, Loire thought with a scowl, I really should have known.  
  
  
  
---  
  
The whetstone scrapped across his sword, the sound sharp in the silence. Riku had no idea what to say-- was he to bring up the fictional father that had caused Sora to come with him in the first place? Did he tell the man he had been lying? What did he do to break this damnable silence?  
  
"Do stop sighing," Sora grumbled a while later, "It's distracting."  
  
"From what?" Riku raised an eyebrow, "There's nothing out here but sun, sea and sky. What could I possibly be distracting the oh-so-great Captain Sora Sparrow from?"  
  
Sora froze, back stiffening. Those words... they may not have meant anything to the average person, but they sure as hell meant a lot to him, especially with that tone of voice. He turned slightly, to get a look at the boy who was now cleaning his blade meticulously out of the corner of his eye. At this angle, he could almost imagine the silver hair flowing free, instead of bound with a leather strap. He could almost imagine the black and gray-- once black and blue-- jacket lazily thrown over a yellow shirt. The boots with those pointless straps around the ankles. And the dark serrated blade he had loved and cared for as though it were his only child.   
  
The resemblance was uncanny, when one took into account Riku's face-- both senior and junior had the exact same features. If it wasn't for the boy's age, and general lack of facial scars, he'd think that he was looking at his old friend. It was hard not to think that, even now, but he managed it. Somehow, he wasn't quite sure.  
  
"You going to answer me?" it was the same tone as his father had used. Slightly annoyed, but mostly amused. Riku Senior had been an odd one, but a good friend, none the less.  
  
"Hmmm, rum."  
  
"Rum."  
  
"Rum," Sora explained delicately, "is a delightful thing. Can take a mind to places you've never been."  
  
"So you're drunk, yet again, Sparrow?"  
  
"I'll have you know, Turner, that I--" he stopped mid sentence, frowning, "No. No, I'm not going there."  
  
"Not again at any rate," Riku shrugged at Sora's surprised look, "I'm not a simpleton, Sora. You've done this all before."  
  
"With your father," Sora sighed, "Good man, your father. Was probably one of the few who knew him as Riku Turner; everyone else just called him Bootstrap."  
  
Now... that was news. His fictional father had actually existed? No wonder Sora had decided to help him-- although, for what reason, and what imaginary debt to his still very non-existent father-figure, Riku did not know. It didn't really matter, he was still getting what he wanted; help to rescue Kairi with. Still, he had to say something, or risk not seeming interested in the man he 'hadn't seen in ten years', "Bootstrap?"  
  
"Good man," Sora nodded to himself, taking ahold of the wheel in both hands and shifting the rudder slight to keep them on course, "Good pirate. I swear you look just like him."  
  
Riku's eyes narrowed, flashing indignantly. Oh, so now Sparrow wanted to play with him? Well fine, two can do _that_! "My father was not a pirate!" Riku refused to believe that he was, in any way shape or form, related to a pirate, no matter how often Kairi had spoken of her wish for that to be true. Sora could pretend to know his father all he liked-- there was no way in hell Riku would make the imaginary man a pirate!  
  
"He was a bloody pirate, a scallywag," Sora rolled his eyes, thinking back on those lighter-- well, relatively lighter-- days.  
  
"He. Was. Not," and the sword Riku had been sharpening came out, the point a bare foot from brushing the pirate Captain's waistcoat.  
  
Sora sighed, "Put it away, son. It's not worth you getting beat again."  
  
"You didn't beat me," Riku spat, annoyance from the day prior still fresh in his mind, "You ignored t he rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd have killed you."  
  
"And that's no incentive for me to fight fair, now is it?" suiting action to words, Sora spun the wheel rapidly, the yard of the sail swinging about and catching Riku in the ribs. The silver haired young man dropped his sword, gloved hands scrabbling for purchase on the wood, in order to keep himself from falling into the dark waters below him. The pirate smirked at him from aboard the ship, eyes dancing merrily, "Now, as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention boy. The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do."  
  
"...uh...?" Riku managed to grunt out the questioning noise, half expecting the pirate to ignore it. But the older man didn't, offering the boy a wide grin and a grand gesture.  
  
"For instance," he explained, conversationally as though he wasn't responsible for the young man hanging over the side of the ship, "You can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that someday. And me, for example, I can let you drown, but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me onesies, savvy?"  
  
The slight nod was all the confirmation he needed, swinging the yard back the other way and the blacksmith thankfully let himself fall off of it, and onto the deck, panting at the exertion of having had to hold on like he had. Definitely not something he wanted to repeat, in all honesty.   
  
Opening his eyes, he found his sword aimed at him, "Can you sail under the command of a pirate, or can you not, boy?" and Sora flipped the weapon so it was hilt first. Gingerly, Riku took the blade from the captain and nodded.  
  
"Tortuga?"  
  
"Tortuga."  
  
---  
  
"More importantly," the swaggering male proclaimed, "It is a sad life indeed, that has never breathed deep the sweet, proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy? What do you think?"  
  
His companion gave him a cross look, barely refraining from plugging his nose at the stench of unwashed bodies, liquor, sex, and other bodily fluids. It was not exactly something he wanted to ever smell again, "It'll linger."  
  
"If every island were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted," he grinned widely as they came across a number of prostitutes looking for a little fun. Several of the girls looked over at the pair, then dismissed them-- two, however, did not. A blonde girl, dressed in blue, hiked up her skirts and stomped over to the men. Confused and wary, Riku stepped back, only to find his lips quirking in amusement almost as soon as the girl's name-- Alice-- left the Captain's lips.  
  
Rubbing his sore cheek, Sora frowned, "Not sure I deserved that."  
  
"Of course not," Riku soothed with a wide, and far from consoling grin, when the second woman came storming up. Sora apparently had no lingering after effects of the first slap, as he threw his arms open wide with a cheerful, "Selphie!"  
  
The brunette in yellow was glaring something fierce, "Who the hell was she, Sparrow?!"   
  
"Who?" and once again, he was cracked across the face, "I may have deserved that."  
  
"Of course you did, moron," Selphie dropped her hands to her hips, going from glaring to merely annoyed in moments, "Where the hell have you been, Sora? No one's seen hide nor hair of you in months!"  
  
"Out and about, of course," Sora waved a hand idly, "Why, somethin' important happened?"  
  
"Wakka and Tidus returned, you know."  
  
"Decided to give up sports and return to their old past time, now have they?"  
  
"Did you expect any different?" Selphie looked amused, "Those two could never stay in one place for long, although somehow Wakka wound up with a wife and son, and Tidus an obsessive stalker."  
  
"I don't think I want to know how," Sora shook his head with a laugh, "Ah, I saw ol'Squall, you know."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really," Sora smirked at her, "But if you want to know where your old friend is, you're going to have to give me something in return, savvy?"  
  
"Depends on what you want, Sora Sparrow," she waved a finger before his nose, "I may not be a pirate any longer, but I'm no whore."  
  
Sora tipped his hat, smirk stretching into a wide grin, "Ah, me and Turner simply want to know where Donald is holing up these days."  
  
"Turner?" Selphie's dark eyes widened, attention shifting from her long time friend and former Captain, to the man who had accompanied him. She hadn't really thought to look at him before, but now that she did... the resemblance was startling. He was, of course, to young to be the Riku Turner she remembered from her childhood, but he look so damn similar that there was no doubt in her mind that this had to be the son of Bootstrap Turner.  
  
"Aye, Riku Turner, named for his father, of course," Sora introduced the two of them, before returning to what was on his mind, "Now, you tell me where Donald is, and I tell you where Squall's been these past few years."  
  
Selphie nodded, somewhat distractedly, still marveling over the similarities between the senior and the junior Turners, "Don's about three streets to the left, sleeping with the pigs, as usual."  
  
"Ah, wonderful, wonderful. Squall Leonhart's gone back to his roots luv, he's Commodore Leon Loire, if the name means anything to you," Sora didn't bother to wait for the girl's answer, instead, dragging his companion down the streets towards where they had been informed their target lay sleeping. A quick detour, and a mischievous smirk from Sora, and they were standing before the sty, complete with Donald and pigs.  
  
A splash of water, and the grizzled and stout, white-haired man jerked awake with a cough and a gasp, to glare about in confusion, "Curse you for breathing, you slack jawed idiot!"   
  
"Who's an idiot?"  
  
"Mother's love! Sora!" Donald blinked the water out of his eyes at the familiar voice, "You should know better then to wake a man when he's sleeping. S'bad luck."  
  
"Ah," Sora proclaimed, crouching before the still seated man, "Fortunately, I know how to counter it. The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks the drink while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."  
  
It took his sleep fogged mind a few minutes to work through Sora's words, before comprehension dawned, "Aye, that'll 'bout do it."  
  
There was little warning, except for a smirk, before Donald was doused in another spray of water, "Blast it! I'm already awake!"  
  
"That was for the smell," the tone and the smile, and his face in general had Donald staring at him in surprise for several moments. Riku was starting to get used to everyone staring.  
  
How disturbing.  
  
---  
  
"Keep a sharp eye, mate," Sora smirked, patting Riku on the shoulder, and leaving the Blacksmith to 'stand guard' at the post before the alcove Sora and Donald had chosen for their meeting in the pub.   
  
"So, what's the nature of this venture of yours?" Donald wondered, taking a draw from his mug.  
  
"I'm going after the Black Pearl," ignoring Donald's hacking and coughing at the mention of the ship, Sora continued blithely, "I know where it's going to be, and I'm going to take it."  
  
"Sora, it's a fool's errand!" Donald snapped, "You know better than anyone the tales of the Black Pearl!"  
  
"That's why I know what Ansem is up to... all I need... is a crew."  
  
"From what I hear tell of Captain Ansem, he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike a bargain with one."  
  
"Well, then I say it's a very good thing I'm not a fool then, aye?" Sora's madcap grin said otherwise to Donald.  
  
"Prove me wrong. What makes ye think Ansem will give up his ship to you."  
  
"Let's just say... it's a matter of leverage, aye?" and he tipped his head towards Riku.   
  
"Leverage?" Donald wondered, confused, and Sora, instead of merely tipping it, jerked his head in the boy's direction this time. The old sailor blinked, "The kid?"  
  
"That is the child of Bootstrap Turner. His only child... savvy?"  
  
"Really now," a speculative gleam entered the man's eye as his own suspicions were confirmed, "Leverage says you... I think I feel a change in the wind says I. I'll find us a crew, there's bound to be some sailors on this dirty rock crazy as you."  
  
"One can only hope," the pirate grinned, raising his mug, "Take what you can..."  
  
Donald lifted his own to bang against his old friend's, "...Give nothing back!"  
  
---  
  
She had been poking at the windows, drawing tiny shapes in the fogged glass when they arrived-- they being Jafar and Hook, Jafar toting with him a rather elegant, wine-colored dress. Not a shade she would normally wear, were her thoughts when the dress was shoved at her.  
  
"You will be dining with the Captain. And he requests you wear this."  
  
"Well, you may tell the captain that I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request."  
  
"He said you'd say that," Jafar's grin was wicked enough to send chills down the girl's spine, "He also said that if that be the case, than you will be dinging with the crew. And you will be naked."  
  
"Fine," she snapped, taking the gown from his arms, as the two snickering pirates left her. Furiously, she stripped off her robe and nightgown, and pulled the white cotton shift on, adjusting the tonfa still about her waist until they were in a more comfortable position beneath the rougher fabric. The dress itself wasn't all that much of a problem to get into, and she was distinctly glad that this was more of the type of dress that she was used to-- one that didn't need a corset to fit into.  
  
Still, it was slightly uncomfortable, the red-hued dress settling oddly over her weapons, but there was little she could do about that.  
  
Unless...   
  
Removing the tonfa from where they had rested for familiarly about her waist, she fished about in the cabin for what she needed-- and came up with a smile. The tonfa may have been longer than the average pistol, but the holster straps were what she was actually going for, as she locked them about her thighs, jamming the cold iron between the leather and her skin. The straps were tight enough to keep the weapon in, nice and securely, but loose enough that should she need the weapons, they would be easy to retrieve.  
  
Besides, any tighter, and she would start to loose feeling in her legs, and quite frankly, that was not a pleasant alternative in her mind.  
  
She had no sooner dropped her skirt over the newly affixed weapons, when the door banged open, and in came more pirates, toting about a massive feast upon the plates. Not exactly something she had expected, given that the times that she had been on long sea voyages in prior years, they had never had this much food set out for one meal; it would go rotten before they managed to eat all of it!  
  
"Please," Ansem's voice came from behind her, causing the girl to jump, and was mocking in it's pleasantness, "be seated."  
  
Carefully, she settled herself nervously into the chair, staring at the food that lay before her. Manors ingrained in her from infanthood, she began to eat only small bites, wary of Ansem's intense stare.  
  
"There's no need to stand on ceremony, nor call to impress anyone. You must be hungry," his words caused her to look at him for several long moments, before the urge to eat called to her. In the three days at sea so far, she had had very little to eat, and it was causing her stomach to churn in knots. Therefore, she saw no reason not to lunge for the food, chewing and tearing at it like the dogs she had seen in the streets of London as a child. A goblet appeared out of the corner of her eye, and she washed down the food with a surprisingly large gulp of wine, only peripherally aware of Ansem speaking.  
  
"Apple?" the white haired man was smiling creepily at her, and she froze, one hand extended for the fruit.  
  
"It's poisoned," she realized with a start, wondering when she would begin to feel ill. Wondering how long she had. Wondering if she would be able to actually finish the meal before dying. She would rather die on a full stomach.  
  
"There would be no sense to be killing you, Miss Turner," Ansem patted her hand patronizingly.  
  
"Then release me! You have your trinket; I'm of no further value to you!"  
  
"You don't know what this is, do you?" Ansem mused as he withdrew the gold medallion from the inner pocket of his jacket, watching it twirl about before handing it off to the monkey perched upon his shoulder.  
  
"It's a pirate medallion," she returned calmly, although there was a waver of uncertainty in her voice.  
  
"This is Aztec gold," the pirate corrected, "One of eight hundred and eighty two identical pieces that they delivered in a stone chest to Cortez himself. Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies. But the greed of Cortez was insatiable. So the heathen gods placed upon the gold a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity." There was a bitterness to his voice, and a fury as well. Kairi ignored it.  
  
"I hardly believe in ghost stories anymore, Captain Ansem."  
  
"Aye," the man agreed, "That's exactly what I thought when we were first told the tale. Buried on an island that cannot be found except for those who know where it is. Find it, we did. There be the chest, inside be the gold, we took them all." He frowned at some distant memory, and Kairi shifted uncomfortably, wishing that she had thought to rip a hole through the dress and the shift beneath it, for easy access to her weapons, as he continued in that bitter voice "Spent them and traded them; we frittered them away... on drink and food and pleasurable company. The more we gave them away, the more we came to realize... the drink would not satisfy. The food turned to Ash in our mouths. All the pleasurable company in the would could not slake our lust. We are cursed men, Miss Turner. Compelled by greed we were, and now we are consumed by it."  
  
He had turned away to stare out the window at the waters as he explained, and Kairi took the moment to grab a knife from the table and hide it in the cloth of her dress. It would take to long to retrieve the tonfa, and likely would make far to much noise.  
  
"There is only one way we can end our curse. All the scattered pieces of Aztec gold must be restored, and the blood repaid," he turned to face her, lips curved in a sinister smile, "Thanks to you, we have the final piece."  
  
"And the blood to be repaid?"  
  
"That's why there's no sense in killing you... yet," with a grin, he offered her the apple that had started the conversation off in the first place. Now was the time, she thought, the knife coming out of her skirt and cutting though his pale jacket, and the flesh beneath it all to easily, with the force of her blow. Ansem looked down at her efforts with a laugh, and withdrew the blade, his own blood gleaming upon it, "I'm curious-- after killing me, what was it that you were planning on doing next?"  
  
With a shriek, the young woman bolted out of the cabin, one to be brought up short by a most horrifying sight. There were no crewmen aboard the ship. Not one-- but there were Heartless. Oh so many Heartless; the evil creatures that stole the Hearts and lives of men at their whim, thought only to be a legend for so many.   
  
They were grinning at her, creatures made of shadow, with glowing golden eyes, and flashing dangerous teeth. Clothing decorated their forms, tattered and worn, as though they had no care for what happened to the fabrics. Still crying out in fright, she tried to race away from them, only to be caught in a circus of movement and sound. Around and around she went, desperately trying to escape from the terrors that stood before her eyes.   
  
Finally, she ducked beneath the stairs from the deck to the helm, and sat there, wide-eyed and panting. This couldn't be real. The pirates couldn't be Heartless. It was terrifying, not something she wanted to even bother to consider. It was no wonder the tales of the Black Pearl said that no man of that crew could die-- Heartless could not be killed. There was no weapon that any man had been able to bring against them to cause their destruction; at least, not any that actually existed. The tales of the Heartless had their own answer to that problem, but really... the Keyblade did not actually exist.   
  
Nor, her thoughts whispered, are Heartless supposed to either.  
  
Thankfully, her thoughts were interrupted. Unfortunately, it was by the tiny form of a monkey-shaped Heartless, that caused her to shriek and try to flee back into the Captain's Cabin, only to run headlong into Ansem, who twisted her about to force her to look at the grinning Heartless that had gathered on deck to watch her fright with glee, "Look! The moonlight shows us for what we really are. We are not among the living, and so we cannot die, but neither are we dead. For too long have I been parched with thirst, and unable to quench it. Too long have I been starving to death, and haven't died. I feel nothing! Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh!"   
  
She was still standing there, shaking, as Ansem stepped out into the moonlight, to reveal his own shadowed form, and glowing eyes-- a form that, had she not been so terrified at that moment, she would have realized appeared to look far to much like a three dimensional shadow of her oldest and dearest friend...  
  
"You'd best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner; you're in one!"   
  
Riku.  
  
---   
  
The day was as bright and as painfully brilliant as the day that this whole mess started, were his thoughts as he stood with Sora and Donald on the dock before the men Donald had gathered the night before. To the blacksmith's amazement, despite the amount of alcohol the Captain had imbibed the night prior, he looked as bright as usual. No sign of a hangover, which was something Riku wished he could say the same of himself. He had refrained from drinking for that particular reason-- he always got a headache the next day.  
  
And with the sun as bright as it was, he was damn glad he hadn't given in to Sora's attempts to ply him with rum.  
  
"Feast your eyes, Captain," Donald was saying, "All of them, faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt... and crazy, to boot."  
  
"So..." he muttered, "This is your able-bodied crew?" There was not much to look at, these men. Hardly the tall and healthy forms he was used to seeing at Destiny Island as part of the Royal Navy. No, these were haggard men, though strong, scarred and world weary. Some were missing limbs, some eyes, some merely fingers or toes.   
  
"You, sailor!"   
  
"Goofy, sir," Donald informed the Captain, as the brown haired one stood before the taller form of the sailor in question. He wore a strange little hat, over black hair that was short and shaggy but for the long tails of it just before his ears.   
  
"Mister Goofy. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" When there was no answer, Sora repeated the question, somewhat annoyed.  
  
Donald sighed, "He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him... no one's yet figured out how."  
  
"Ah," the pirate Captain nodded, avoiding looking in the man's mouth when he opened it to prove that he did, indeed, not have a tongue. Riku wondered how he could eat without one, then put the thought aside as his obviously insane help turned to the bird on Goofy's shoulder, "Mister Goofy's... parrot. Same question."  
  
"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!"  
  
"Mostly," Donald explained, "We figure that means 'yes'."  
  
"O'course it does," Sora responded with a nod of acceptance, before turning to face his young companion, "Satisfied?"  
  
"Well, you've certainly proved them mad."  
  
"And what's the benefit for us?" the sharp voice came from the end of the line, and a look of confusion, then realization, followed by apprehension crossed the dear captain's face before he came to the end of the line and pulled the hat off the sailor's head. Short hair and a bandana greeted him, not to mention a female face. Sora sighed.  
  
"Yuffie."  
  
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one, either?" Riku chuckled from behind him, as Sora twisted his head back forwards from the powerful and rather painful slap the woman had unleashed upon him.   
  
"No," Sparrow grinned slightly, "That one I deserved."  
  
"You stole my boat!" Yuffie accused, sticking her finger in Sora's face, right between his eyes.  
  
"Actually..." his explanation was halted by yet another slap from the woman, "...borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."  
  
"But you didn't!"  
  
"You'll get another one," he tried to calm the woman, and it seemed to work as she dropped her hand and frowned at him.  
  
"I will."  
  
"A better one," Riku offered, grinning and trying to avoid laughing at Sora's misfortunes. It all seemed so familiar that it was both funny and depressing in the same instance.  
  
"A better one!" the pirate agreed quickly.  
  
"That one," Riku hummed, pointing out over the waters to where the Highwind was moored.  
  
"What one?" Sora blinked, following the boy's hand out to the sea. He pouted, whining, "That one?" before his eyes returned to Yuffie's darkening face, "Aye! That one! What say you?"  
  
"Aye!" came the shouts of the men and Yuffie, before the began to head for the boats to take them to the Highwind.   
  
"No, no, no, no, no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir!" Donald attempted to reason with the man, although one must doubt how reason and superstition go together.  
  
"It'd be far worse not to have her," the Captain muttered, looking up at the sky. Confused, Riku and Donald attempted to follow what he was looking for, but found themselves unable to do so. Sharing a shrug and a sigh, Riku wondered aloud, "What was that about?"  
  
"I've no idea, son. I've no idea."  
  
Within four hours, however, they knew exactly what it was that Sora had found so interesting-- a storm had broken upon them while at sea. It was obvious that Sora, unlike Donald and Riku, was a skilled hand at reading the clouds, the sun, and the wind, to tell him that a storm was coming, because the man was fully prepared for the worst of it when the rain came down upon their merry little band.  
  
Even in the wind and rain, Sora was grinning, guiding himself using the compass in his hand. Riku frowned, pulling the ropes tighter, before yelling over to Donald, "How can we sail to an island that nobody can find, with a compass that doesn't work?"  
  
"Aye," the old man replied over the wind, "The compass doesn't point north, but we're not trying to find north, are we?" And the man continued on his way to what he'd been doing before-- heading towards the captain. Once within a distance he was sure that the young man would be able to hear him at, he called up to the helm, "We should drop canvas, sir!"  
  
"She can hold a bit longer," Sora half laughed.  
  
"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood, Captain?" having known Sora for so long, the stout man did not put it past the man to be thinking only of a bottle of rum, or even of a former lover, that would keep him like this for hours on end-- even in the midst of a storm, or an execution.  
  
"We're catching up," Sora's half laugh became a wicked grin the howling laughter of a man who has waited to long to get what he has been looking for. Sora Sparrow was a happy man.  
  
---  
  
The storm had broke long before Sora would have deemed it necessary to drop the sails and wait the waters out. Which, Riku had to admit, was probably a good thing. If that storm had been upon the Black Pearl, neither captain or blacksmith had any doubts that the ship would have stopped to wait it out. As Sora had said those hours before-- they were catching up. Hell, they were practically on top of the Black Pearl, the Highwind merely ghosting through the waters about the Isla de Bastion.   
  
"Dead men tell no tales," Goofy's parrot squawked from the top of the sails, breaking the eerie silence.  
  
"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," Donald murmured, hat over his heart as the Highwind glided all but effortlessly between shipwrecks. There were murmurs of agreement from the others on deck, before they shuffled off to do what they were supposed to do.   
  
Well, excluding Riku who turned to Donald with a curious look on his face, "How is it that Sora came by that compass?"  
  
"Not a lot known about Sora Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Bastion," Donald shrugged, "That was before I met him-- back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."  
  
"He failed to mention that..." but for some reason, Riku had the strange feeling that he'd already know-- only forgotten. Donald looked a bit surprised, then wary that he had allowed something Sora hadn't been ready to share with a near-to-complete strange. Weeks aboard a ship together not withstanding, of course.  
  
"Well, he plays things close to the vest now. And a hard learned lesson it was," hey, if he'd already spilled one thing, what did it matter if he went into the tales of what had happened to Sparrow to turn him into the man he was today? Setting down in a crouch, the young Turner beside him, Donald began to speak, "See, three days out on the venture, the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share, that should mean the location of the treasure, too. So, Sora gives up the bearings. That night there was a mutiny-- they marooned Sora on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the hate."  
  
"Ah. So that's the reason for the..." he did a slightly exaggerated version of some of Sora's movements.  
  
"Reason's got nothing to do with it," Donald smiled slightly, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Now Riku, when a man is marooned, he is give a pistol with a single shot," Riku had a sneaking suspicion where this was going, "Well, it won't do much good hunting, or to be rescued; but after three weeks of starvin belly and thirst, that pistol starts to look real friendly," and he aimed a finger at his temple for example, "But Sora made it off the island, and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."  
  
Why, the voice inside muttered sarcastically, with a roll of mental eyes, does that not surprise me? "Ansem."  
  
"Aye."  
  
A question came to mind after a moment of silence, "How did Sora get off the island?"  
  
"Well," Donald leaned forwards with a grin. It was such a strange story, but strange went hand-in-hand with Sora Sparrow, "I'll tell you. He waded out into the shallows, and there he waited, three days and three nights, till all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, harnessed them together and made a raft"  
  
"He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Riku repeated, voice flat. Oh that, he could not believe.  
  
"Aye, sea turtles."  
  
"One question," Riku tipped his head, quirking a silver brow, "What did he use for rope?"  
  
Donald's mouth opened, then a curious look crossed his face, and it closed. Frowning, he tried to puzzle that out himself, but was saved the trouble of answering.  
  
"Human hair... from my back," Sora, it appeared, had come up in the midst of Donald's storytelling. Riku gave the man a flat look-- one that plainly stated 'I don't believe that. I don't believe the story. There must have been something else'. Sora ignored it with practiced ease. He rather liked the rumors and stories that traveled the seas about him, even if half were rather impossible. Turning, he shouted to his men, "Let go of the anchor!"  
  
"Let go of the anchor, sir!" the voice came from a random crew member, but Sora didn't bother to find out which, his attention turning to the two men before him, of which had stood while he wasn't paying attention to them.  
  
"Young Mister Turner and I are to go ashore."  
  
"Captain! What if the worst should happen?"  
  
A long stare was leveled at the man, before Sora spoke, "Keep to the code."  
  
"Aye, the code."  
  
---  
  
End Part Three  
  
Kairi: I have weapons. Why aren't I using them?  
  
Riku: Because you don't want them taken away yet, when you'll need them at a later point in the story, now do you?  
  
Kairi: Oh... I suppose that makes sense.  
  
Riku: Of course it does.  
  
Kairi: Uh... where's Sora?  
  
Riku: I think he's trying to put beads in his hair.  
  
Kairi: ... why?  
  
Riku: He's taken a liking to Jack Sparrow.  
  
Kairi: Figures. This is the guy who liked dressing up like a vampire with a pumpkin on his head.  
  
Riku: Do I want to know?  
  
Kairi: Halloween Town, dear.  
  
Riku: Please don't call me that.  
  
Kairi: Why, does it disturb you, darling? Would you prefer it if Sora were the one to call you such things, beloved?  
  
Riku: ... I'm not talking to you. 


	4. Part Four

Longest part yet at 41.5KB/17 pages without the author's notes.   
  
If you hadn't noticed, I like counting how long each part is. I'm starting to think that my cast commentary is starting to develop it's own storyline, at that. Amusing, non? In any case, plot points are explained (slightly), things start happening, and stuff gets blown up. It's a wonderful chapter!  
  
Have any of you guessed how I'm going to end this yet? Or will I get exclamations of surprise when I do? Or will Selphie slap me as silly as she did Sora for being an idiot?   
  
Yes, I'm randomly babbling. It's fun.   
  
Heh, I started this last night, just after listening to Pirates of the Caribbean-- had it playing in the background as I finished the rewrite of False Identity chapter three. I love my laptop's DVD player ^__^. And this morning, as I finished it off, I listened to the soundtrack. Obsessive? Maybe slightly.  
  
Review response time!  
  
Farli - That is the most all-encompasing review I have ever read. Thanks! Tortuga... yes, they do go back, though the scene is hardly as amusing as the first time.  
  
MiDnIgHt-JaGuAr - *grins* You're amusing.  
  
Ryasha - Yes, please email me the picture of Sora! I'll put it up on my fanfiction website (li_xiang.anifics.com). Well, everyone would expect Riku to be Jack, so I couldn't just _do_ that, non?  
  
Disclaimer in Part One.  
  
--------  
  
Pirates of Destiny Isle  
  
Part Four  
  
Priest Li Xiang  
  
--------  
  
"Ten years of hoarding swag," he grinned to his partner, dark eyes glinting gleefully.  
  
"And now we're finally getting to spend it!" Hook returned with a laugh, as he and Jafar hefted a trunk up, but his wooden hook was not a hand, and the trunk tumbled out of their grasp, clattering to the ground. It shattered upon impact, sending the contents flying-- dresses and parasols, and other women's clothing. The pair blinked stupidly at the mess for a moment, before Hook picked up a pale pink parasol and propped it against his shoulder. Jafar bent to snatch up his own, wondering in his head if it matched his robe-like apparel.  
  
"Once we're quit of the curse, we'll be rich men," Jafar proclaimed with a smug smile, "And you can buy a hook that fits properly, and is made of gold."  
  
"This one does tend to break quite often," Hook agreed, poking at the wooden appendage from which he took his name.  
  
"Idiots," Malificent muttered with a roll of the eyes as she passed them, wondering what, exactly, Sparrow had been on when he had decided to allow those two to be a part of his crew. Then again, the same could be said of herself and Ansem, true enough. They _did_ eventually cause a mutiny, after all.  
  
---  
  
He was surprised at the lack of revulsion, and the lack of shock as they drifted past skeleton after skeleton, working their way deeper into the caverns of the Isla de Bastion. Instead, he found himself calmly holding the lamp at the prow of the life boat they had taken in, while Sora rowed it.   
  
"What code is Donald to keep to if the worst should happen?"  
  
"Pirates code," Sora's voice was even as he spoke, "Any man that falls behind... is left behind." His sentence was punctuated by the skeleton that lay sprawled on the east bank, a sword pinning it through the back. Obviously, someone had found the dank island, at the same time it's "owners" had been about, and had been cut down as they tired to escape. It was a gruesome thought, but for some reason, Riku could almost see it happening in his mind.  
  
"No heroes amongst thieves, eh?" he almost chuckled, but held it back for the sake of propriety. Something about these caverns sent a chill down his spine-- not that they frightened him, but he had the feeling that... he'd been here before? How strange.  
  
"You know," Sora drawled, clearly amused by Riku's mental battles, "for having such a bleak outlook on pirates, you're well on your way to becoming one. Sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the Fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga..." the pirate grinned as Riku's attention shifted from their passage, to what laid in the waters below them, "... and you're completely obsessed with treasure."  
  
"That's not true," Riku grumbled as they came ashore. The youth had to pause, however, as he found himself snatching up a small golden babble as they passed. He stared at the item in his hand for a moment, before shoving it into his pocket, "Alright, so maybe it is. I'm a blacksmith. I work with such things quite frequently. I merely like it because of my work."  
  
"Keep telling yourself that, lad. Maybe you'll come to believe it someday," Sora's grin was mocking.   
  
"Gentlemen!" the voice rang out and both pirate and blacksmith fell silent, peering over a small ledge stacked with gold, down at the pirates that stood below. They were scattered throughout the main room of the cavern, some toying with their loot, others watching their captain avidly. The man stood atop a mound of rock and treasure, a thick stone chest before him, "The time has come! Salvation is nigh! Our torment is near its end!"  
  
"Kairi..." Riku whispered, eyes catching on the redheaded figure bound and standing beside the white haired form of Ansem. Something cold crawled through the boy's chest as his eyes landed on the captain, and a seething rage boiled just beneath his skin. The intensity of the emotion startled him, his fingers clenching and unclenching, as something... unlocked. And seeing Captain Ansem was the key to it all.  
  
"For ten years we've been tested and tried, and each man here has proved his mettle a hundred times over and a hundred times again!" he was bellowing over the cheers of the men.  
  
"Suffered I have," Hook murmured, somewhat whimsically.  
  
"Punished we were!" Ansem leapt upon his words to continue his speech. It was no wonder Ansem had gathered so many pirates under his wing, and managed to toss Sora out of the running-- he was a master when it came to speeches, "The lot of us-- disproportionate to our crime! Here it is..." and he lifted his foot, kicking the stone lid right off of the chest, sending it tumbling down the mound to crash heavily into the waters at the feet of his crew, "... the cursed treasure of Cortez himself. Every last piece that went astray, we have returned... save for this." With a wave, he indicated the golden coin that hung on a chain about Kairi's neck.  
  
The fury within raged against his control, and Riku was moving without having meant to-- only to find a hand upon his leg, yanking him back. Several coins tumbled off the ledge, but the only one to hear was the only one that could not speak-- the monkey.  
  
"Sora!" Riku whirled to face the man, gaze doubling for a minute, seeing two versions of the man before him. The first was, of course, the real one, with the half-crazed gleam in his eye, and the drunken swagger to his sea-crafted walk. The second, however, was younger, with a bright smile, and brighter eyes. His hair was wild and so was his laugh. The Sora of ten years ago.   
  
"Not yet. We wait for the opportune moment."  
  
He could recall... himself...? once saying the same to the younger version.  
  
"And when's that?" Riku spat, glaring at the man who had brought him this far, the distant and often unheard voice right in his ear, whispering to trust the man, but yet, not to trust him all that much. It was rather confusing, to say the least. Especially with the voice sounding more and more like himself as the seconds ticked by, "When it's of greatest profit to you?"  
  
"May I ask you something?" there was no doubt to the annoyed tone in the man's voice, "Have I ever given you reason not to trust me? Do us a favor, I know it's difficult for you, but please stay here... and try not to do anything... stupid." The boy, Sora had learned, could be as rash as his father, although Bootstrap had always had the muscle and the weaponry to back up his stupid mistakes. Well, at least until it could be pounded into his head that he was the one in the wrong.   
  
"And who among us," Ansem was continuing, "has paid the blood sacrifice owed to the heathen gods?"  
  
"Us!"  
  
"And whose blood must yet be paid?"  
  
"Hers!"  
  
"You know the first thing I'm goin' to do after the curse is lifted...?" he turned to the girl with a grin and a leer, "Eat a whole bushel of apples."   
  
"What is it with you and apples?" Kairi muttered, mustering her courage. With him watching her like that, she couldn't get her tonfa out, although she had worked her fingers into a hole above one on the side where the man wasn't. Just a little bit more, and she'd be able to just tear the damned thing out and attack the man, before trying to escape. Not the best of plans, but it was currently her only plan.   
  
"Begun by blood," the man rumbled, yanking on the hand that had been, moments ago tucked into her dress, and slapping the medallion into her hand, "By blood undone!" And the blade slashed across her palm.  
  
At the same moment, Sora was collapsing to the ground, an oar clattering along with it, as Riku looked dispassionately down at the man, "Sorry, old friend. I'm not going to be your leverage. Not again."  
  
He slipped around the insensate body, soundlessly dropping into the deep waters, even as Kairi was staring at her bloody hand, "That's it?"  
  
"Waste not," came the chuckle, and he forced her hand open, the metal falling in the hushed, anticipatory silence. It hit the rest in the chest, and the sound resounded throughout the cavern. Several pirates, including Ansem himself, closed their eyes, holding their breaths to wait to see if it had worked. To feel any change at all about them.  
  
"Did it work?" one of the pirates wondered, slitting his eyes opened to look upon his Captain.  
  
"I don't feel no different," Hook muttered, scratching his chin.  
  
His partner tipped his head in confusion, "How do we tell?"  
  
The white haired devil that led them rolled his eyes, before drawing his pistol. Like the coin hitting it's brethren, the shot fired echoed throughout the cavern, and Jafar gave an indignant yelp, even as another pirate stated the obvious.  
  
"You're not dead!"  
  
"No... he shot me! And I didn't die!"  
  
"It didn't work," Hades snapped, "The curse is still upon us!"  
  
Furious, Ansem turned his attention to what they had hoped to be their savior, even if she was unwilling, "You, maid! Your father, what was his name? Was your father Riku Turner?"  
  
The smile that crossed her face could only be considered as smug, "No."  
  
"Where is his child?" Ansem snarled, glaring at her, snatching up the coin with her blood on it, and thrusting it into her face, "The child that came from England, eight years ago with this coin! The child in whose veins flows the blood of Riku Turner! Where is he?!" He was demanding an answer that she would not give, however. She kept only her smug smile, and dancing vengeful eyes upon the man.   
  
Furious at her deception, Ansem lashed out, gloved hand cracking her hard enough across the face, to force her to tumble down the mound they stood upon. She was barely conscious as she landed, though she realized that the medallion had flown from Ansem's hand when he smacked her, following her trajectory, and landing within her reach.  
  
"You two," Malificent's voice hissed, and Kairi wondered how she could speak so quietly, only to be heard throughout the cavern, "You brought us the wrong person!"  
  
"No!" Jafar's own hiss came in return, just as furiously, "She had the medallion, she's the proper age!"  
  
Consciousness came abruptly back to the girl, however, as a wet hand covered her mouth and nose, stopping her ability to breath. Eyes flying open wide, she found herself staring at the familiar, silver maned head of her best friend. He made a quick motion, to get her to follow, and she nodded, snatching up the medallion that lay near her, before slipping into the dark waters with Riku.   
  
Again, the only one to see it was the one that could not speak. The monkey hopped up and down, pointing, but the argument between the pirates gathered only drowned out it's squeaking attempts to catch it's master's attention.  
  
"You brought us here for nothing," Hades spat, eyes almost glowing.  
  
"I won't take questions and second guesses from the likes of you, Master Hades," Ansem shot back, furious at the disruption of their ultimate goal.  
  
"Who's to blame? Every decision you've made has led us from bad to worse!" the voice barked from close to the back of the ranks of the pirates.  
  
Another voice, closer to the front agreed, "It was you who corrupted Bootstraps' body!"  
  
"And it's you who brought us here in the first place," Malificent added her own frosty opinion.   
  
Power seemed to flow off of the enraged captain, filling the cavern, his voice echoing as he bellowed, "Any coward here dare challenge me, let him speak!" This time, there was no response, and Ansem nodded, "As I thought."  
  
"I say, we cut her throat and spill all her blood, just in case," a dark skinned pirate offered up a solution to their woes, be it right or wrong. Ansem let a chill smile cross his lips; it would be a fitting punishment for the deception of the girl, even if she did not share blood with Bootstrap. Turning, he gazed down at where she had landed, only to be brought up short by her missing form. Eyes raising, he finally spotted the monkey, pointing frantically to an empty passage that lead out of the caverns.  
  
His lips drew back from his lips, in an animalistic snarl, "The medallion! She's taken it! Well, after her, you pack of ingrates!"  
  
Bellows and shouts echoed through the halls as the pirates raced out to find their missing captive. The noise was enough to draw Sora out of his enforced slumber, and he pushed himself to his feet, rocking back and forth all the while. The back of his head hurt like a bitch, and the culprit was right there on the floor beside him. Heavily, he reached down to grab the oar, using it to support his weight. Dammit all if Riku didn't have some power behind that swing of his.   
  
Bloody bastard.  
  
Eh, well, might as well let the boy get himself killed-- Sora was going to go back out to the Highwind. Or maybe the Pearl. He was pretty sure he'd seen his ship moored nearby. It wouldn't take much to take it and get the hell out of the vicinity of the Isla de Bastion, now would it? So he stumbled, rather awkwardly, and appearing rather drunk, towards where he and Riku had landed the life boat they'd come to shore in. He was just about there when the sharp voice of Ansem's first mate floated to his ears.  
  
"The oars have gone missing! Find them!"  
  
"You!" Sora blinked a few times, twisting about to see if Jafar had been yelling at him, "You're supposed to be dead!"  
  
"Am I not?" he wondered, still slightly at odds with himself thanks to the Riku-induced headache that pounded in his skull. He turned to head back the way he came, only to find pirates in the way. Again he turned, this time to see a lot of pistols aimed at his face. One blink. Two blinks. They weren't doing anything yet, which Sora found odd, so he decided to go about not getting himself killed, "Puhluley. Publulehvoos. Pareleli. Parsmi. Pasley, parle, parle..."  
  
"Parlay?" Hook wondered.  
  
"Parlay! That's the one! Parlay! Parlay!" Okay, so he didn't have to say it three times but really-- what if the second one had cancelled out the first? Precautions had to be taken, after all, he was Captain Sora Sparrow, and he had survived far more than one would have thought he had. No thanks to Bootstrap, Squall, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie, however...  
  
"Parlay?" Jafar sent a scowl Hook's way, and the wavy-haired pirate winced at it, "Damned to the depths whatever mad man thought of parlay."  
  
"That," Sora smiled, pushing the pistol down to grin into Jafar's face, "Would be the French."  
  
---  
  
Oddly enough, Kairi had found it rather liberating to be throwing the oars out behind them as they rowed towards the Highwind. Riku had just given her a slightly strained smile, and continued forwards. She would have offered to let him have a go at it, but really, someone had to bring them to the ship, right? Being the gentleman that he was, Riku let Kairi go up first, helping her along by being a convenient stepping stool every now and again. It was rather annoying, but the things he suffered for his friendships.  
  
Almost over the edge he paused, looking back. His thoughts were surprisingly light. You'd better get out of this one, Sora, just to prove to me that you actually have learned something these past ten years.   
  
Kairi's voice, weak and exasperated at the same time, carried across to him as he pulled himself up and over, "Not more pirates..."  
  
"Welcome aboard, Miss Kairi," Donald's welcoming voice was somewhat amusing, Riku reflected, especially with that big cheesy grin on his face. Then again, Donald hasn't seen the girl in eight years, now has he? Right then, stop talking to yourself, Turner. Don't want to be going as mad as Sparrow has, now do we?  
  
"Mister Donald...?" to say Kairi was surprised would have been an understatement. Last she had heard, the man had died at sea, but here he was, healthy as could be, aboard a commandeered ship of the Royal Navy.   
  
"Hey, boy, where be Sora?"  
  
"I'm no boy, Donald," Riku gave the man a flat look, "And Sora fell behind." The look he gave the stout man clearly meant 'I'll explain later', and he guided Kairi away. Donald was silent for a long time, before he raised his head and spoke.  
  
"Keep to the code."  
  
Yuffie's voice was loud and commanding, "Raise anchor! Hoist the sails! Make quickly, men!"  
  
---  
  
"How in blazes did you get off that island?" Ansem was scowling at the other man, while he, in turn, offered a lazy smile.  
  
"When you marooned me on that godforsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing, mate... I'm Captain Sora Sparrow," there was no arrogance in that voice. Not one whit of it; Sora merely spoke his name as though it held all the answers to the universe. And in his mind, perhaps it did.  
  
"Ah, well, I won't be making that mistake again. Gents, you all remember Captain Sora Sparrow, right?" the grins from his crew were all the confirmation he needed, "Kill him."  
  
There were several laughs, and the clicking of several guns having their ammunition set and ready to be shot. Sora was unperturbed, still smiling, and leaning against the oar he had been using as a crutch mere moments before, "The girl's blood didn't work, did it?"  
  
Ansem froze, midstep, and placed his foot carefully upon the ground. He kept his back to the young man for a long moment, before turning and glaring, "You know who's blood we need?"  
  
"I know whose blood ye need," the deep purr was oddly out of place for the man, and Ansem waved a hand, his men dropping their guns, disappointment clear on their faces. Sora's grin widened, before vanishing after a moment, confusion crossing his brow.  
  
"Might I ask you a question?"  
  
"You might as well," all present knew that Ansem would kill Sora the moment he got the information he needed, including Sora himself. The brown haired captain grinned a toothy grin.  
  
"You're to kind to me. What happened to you, mate? Last time I saw you... well, you had different scars, and your hair was red."  
  
"People change, Sora," Ansem returned, though he knew his answer wouldn't satisfy Sparrow's incorrigible curiosity. Sometimes, the man thought and acted like a child. It was why he had decided to take the Pearl away from him in the first place, to be honest.  
  
"Now then, that's not really an answer. Scars don't change just like that-- especially facial scars," he tipped his head to one side, beads jangling, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you swapped your scars with Bootstrap's."  
  
He got a toothy grin in response, "Oh... something like that."  
  
---  
  
He was leaning against the side of the boat, eyes distant, but on Yuffie as she took over the Captain's duties. The woman looked at him out of the corner of her eye, clearly perturbed by this change of attitude in the young man, "So. We sail for Port Royal, then?"  
  
"No."  
  
"No?"  
  
"No," Riku pushed up, looking out over the waters, having guided the Highwind about to be hidden by the Isla de Bastion, where they waited for the Pearl to take sail and go off in search of them. Sora had been told, he knew, that the Highwind was the fastest military ship in the Caribbean-- so it would cause no problems for Sora not to be able to see them out on the waters; something helped by the generally overcast day and the muted colors of the Highwind, "That's where Sora, and therefore Ansem, will think we've headed."  
  
"We've come all this way for the lass, and you're not taking her home?" this confused Yuffie, who had been forced to listen to Riku's occasional rant about getting the boat to go faster in order to find the young miss.   
  
"Not yet. We need to head into Tortuga."  
  
"Might I ask why, Mister Turner?"  
  
"There's an old friend there," Riku shrugged, "He owes me a favor, and knowing Sparrow, he's likely got a plan that no one else could possibly have thought up."  
  
She eyed him with an appreciative glance, "You've known him for... what, a month?... and you already know him well enough to decide that?"  
  
"That's where you're wrong, Yuffie," he smiled a smile that was rather disheartening to see, "I've known him a lot longer than that; I just forgot."  
  
"How does one go about forgetting someone like Sora?" Donald's voice came from the steps, as the man came up, "The Pearl has finally taken up anchor. They're leaving the island."  
  
"Good. We'll hold here for another day, then head for Tortuga," Yuffie decided, gauging the speed of the Pearl and the distance between the Isla de Bastion and Port Royal.  
  
"It's rather easy, actually," Riku shook his head, giving Donald a wry grin, "You just need a bastard like Ansem to steal your body."  
  
"That makes not one whit of sense, lad."  
  
"Ah, but it does," Riku's lips curved into a tiny, dry smirk, "When you consider that even though Ansem and his crew be cursed to be Heartless forever and eternity, and yet still have their Hearts; it be the only reason they still look human when not in Moonlight."  
  
"Heartless?"  
  
"Aye, Heartless," the silver haired youth nodded, his eyes gaining that distant sheen once again, "A myth that isn't quite a myth at all. The Aztec gold created them, made the Heartless a reality, and as Heartless they must do as they were crafted."  
  
"To steal Hearts," Donald rumbled, thoughts whizzing, "But... if Ansem stole your Heart, lad, wouldn't you have died?"  
  
"I would have become a Heartless like them. But I didn't say he'd taken my Heart-- I said he took my body. Punishment, for sending one of the coins away and not telling him where it was, you see. Ansem did what he was to do, and ripped my Heart from my body. But he didn't absorb it, or use it like any other Heartless would have. He let it go."  
  
The two pirates were staring at him now, the dots connecting within their minds, and Yuffie was the first to speak, "Bootstrap?"  
  
"Aye," Riku agreed, winking, "But let's keep this between the three of us for now. No sense in letting it be a secret that gets out and about, to the waiting ears of Ansem. Long as I'm only 'Bootstrap's Boy', then I've less to fear than if it's discovered that I'm Bootstrap himself. After all... I'm not cursed, am I?"  
  
"Riku?"  
  
The three pirates started, twisting about to see Kairi standing on the deck below, and they barely held in a breath of relief. She was to far away to be hearing their conversation-- not that she would have had she been near, as she looked worried and quite clearly out of it as she stood, gnawing on her lip.  
  
"What is it, Kairi?" it amazed Donald and Yuffie how easily Bootstrap slipped back into being Riku as he spoke with the girl they had rescued.  
  
"Can I... can I speak with you, Riku? It's rather important," she was twisting her hands about, picking at the bandage across her slashed palm. With a nod, he went quickly to her side, and they sequestered themselves in the Captain's Cabin with nary a second look. Once inside, Kairi plucked all that much harder at her bandages, until Riku's hands stilled hers.  
  
"What did you want to speak to me about, then?"  
  
"I... do you know why they took me, when they left Port Royal?"  
  
"I have my suspicions, but nothing solid," Riku tipped his head as he spoke, curious gaze upon her face. Kairi sighed, tilting her head forwards and letting the long crimson strands hide her gaze.  
  
"I gave Ansem your name as my own."  
  
Riku nodded, "I thought it would be something like that, though I don't really know why they came to Port Royal."  
  
She fidgeted for a moment, then withdrew the gold medallion she had swiped as they had left the caverns. His gaze went immediately to it, and she dropped it into his upturned palm, chain and all, "It's yours."  
  
"I thought I'd lost it to the ocean eight years ago," Riku murmured, "Why did you take it?"  
  
"Because I was afraid that you were a pirate," there was a whine in her voice, and he knew that she hadn't been afraid of the fact that he was a pirate-- but of the fact that he would have been killed for being one, child or not, "The would have been awful. I'm so sorry... please, forgive me."  
  
---  
  
It was kind of... dank, he reflected morosely. What had Ansem done to his precious ship? There were holes in it's sails, boards rotting away, and the entire thing was encumbered by a feel of dankness that got on his nerves. Bloody hell.  
  
"So," Ansem was saying to his proposal, "You expect to leave me standing on some beach with nothing but a name and your word it's the one I need, and watch you sail away in my ship?"  
  
Sora frowned at him, "No. I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name at all, watching me sail away on my ship and then I'll shout the name back to you. Savvy?" Really, it was an ingenious plan. And he would even give the boy's name to Ansem. That it would be the right Turner, however, was a completely different story. Ah, it was good to be friends with one who had such a common name.  
  
"But that still leaves us with the problem of me standing on some beach with naught but a name and your word it's the one I need," the bastard still liked blowing holes in all his carefully constructed plans, Sora mentally raged. It was the same reason he had allowed the man to be his First Mate ten years earlier, but right now it was just pissing him off. Not that anyone could tell, as Sora sprawled himself in a chair across the desk from Ansem, plucking an apple off the table.  
  
"Of the two of us," he explained, "I'm the only one who hasn't committed mutiny, therefore, my word is the one we'll be trusting. Although, I suppose I should be thanking you, because, in fact, if you hadn't betrayed me and left me to die, I would have an equal share of that curse same as you," the man grinned, biting into the apple he'd swiped, and mentally snickering in the look Ansem was giving him, "Funny ol' world, innit?"  
  
"Indeed..." Ansem frowned at him, before switching topics, "We should have come up on the Highwind by now."  
  
Sora shrugged, "Perhaps they have better minds on board than I thought. They got the lass they came after, so one would assume that they would be heading back to Port Royal."  
  
"But they're not. We've not seen hide nor hair of them since we set out, three days ago."  
  
"Well," Sora took another bite of his apple, and reminded himself to do so more often. The faces Ansem was making were quite hilarious to watch, "What do you expect me to do about it, mate? S'not like I know what goes on in Yuffie's mind."  
  
---  
  
What was going on in Yuffie's mind, was generally exasperated amazement at Bootstrap's acting skills. The man in the boy's body was quite clearly donning a completely different hat about the rest of the crew, and it was stunning how skilled he was at it. Of course, one had to take into mind that he had been acting in such a manor for ten or so years now, but the fact remained that Riku 'Bootstrap' Turner had been as he was for twenty or so years before becoming the boy.   
  
Although, Yuffie mused, now that she actually thought it through, if Riku had truly been Bootstrap's son, that would have meant Bootstrap had been active when he was ten or eleven. Not impossible just... improbable.   
  
The Black Pearl was always a speck on the horizon to them, as they sailed, something Yuffie was quite grateful for as they had come into Tortuga. It meant that they, too, were merely a speck, and their course to Tortuga would not raise many brows on the cursed ship. Mooring in the bay about the pirate town, the female pirate wondered who would be going into Tortuga to pick up what supplies Ol'Bootstrap felt the need to gather.   
  
Obviously, Bootstrap would go in-- and the young Miss Swann had pitched a fit to be allowed to go along, but all it had taken was a few words from Riku to calm her-- and Donald would go as well, the man knowing Tortuga better than any man alive; he had, after all, been living there for seven years. Bootstrap had refused any one else to go, so here they were, watching the boy and the man rowing in to the pirate town.   
  
"Miss Yuffie?"  
  
"Aye, Miss Kairi?" the pirate turned, and found herself looking at the small girl, and the odd iron weapons she held in hand.  
  
"Would you mind practicing with me? I didn't get much of a chance on the Black Pearl."  
  
---  
  
It wasn't all the hard to recall where Selphie had been before, and Riku moved swiftly through the pirates with a confidence he hadn't had the last time he was in the town. Here and there, he flinched a valuable off a man to drunk to notice, and made a strict reminder to himself to never get that pissed.   
  
As he had expected, the young woman was right where she had been before; fixing the make-up of one of the prostitutes as she came about from whatever liaison she had been at before, "Be with you boys in a moment, Donald!"   
  
Finishing the job, the woman straightened her traditional yellow dress, before stepping aside and motioning for the two males to follow her. Once out of the reach of any possible attempts by the drunkards to steal any items off of them, the brunette stared them down, gaze shifting between the two men, "Alright, where's Sora?"  
  
"Most likely bartering my life for the Black Pearl," Riku chuckled slightly, "He loves that ship a touch to much if you ask me."  
  
"Aye," Donald agreed, "But that's not what we're here for."  
  
"Oh? What are you here for-- and you two will be explaining what Sora's doing on the Pearl, won't you?"  
  
"If we have the time, Selph, if we have the time," Riku shrugged with a grin, "But right now, I'd like to know where the old gang is."  
  
"The old gang?" Selphie gave the youth a hard look, "Now, who's been telling you stories, lad?"  
  
"No stories, Miss Selphie," Donald gave a grim smile, "This here is Bootstrap himself."  
  
"Bootstrap..." her eyes widened, as she took in the cocky stance that Riku had not been in the last time he'd been about, and the grin on his face, "Riku Turner, where the hell have you been?!"  
  
"Fighting with Squall, mostly," Riku shrugged, "Port Royal, actually. Had some memory problems thanks to Captain Ansem-- but really, Selph, now is not the time. Where's the old gang holed up?"  
  
"Tidus and Wakka are with Wakka's wife's family; they left the island about four days ago, love," she sighed, "You're out of luck in that department, as you know well as I do where Squall is. The old gang's split and frayed at the edges till there was nothing left."  
  
"Dammit all!"  
  
"How much does this affect your plan, Bootstrap?" Donald queried, giving him a long look. Riku raked his fingers through his hair.  
  
"Not as much as you would think, Donald. I was just hoping for a little back up, but supplies will have to do instead. We need food and drinking water, Selphie," he rubbed at his chin, amused by the stubble that had grown while he hadn't been all that big on hygiene. It was hardly the beard he'd sported before-- one that Sora seemed content to emulate, he thought with a smile-- but it would just take a little time to get it back, "Your husband should be able to provide it for us, right?"  
  
"Do you have any blackmail material on Irvine, Bootstrap, or are you grasping at straw?" she drawled, eyes half lidded. Bootstrap offered her a wry grin.  
  
"Well, I was certainly hoping that you could be the one to offer the blackmail material, m'dear. There's not much a pirate is ashamed of, and his wife would be the only one who knew."  
  
"You're as dirty as you ever were, Riku Turner!" Selphie laughed, motioning the two men to follow her, "Come on then! Lets get you two loaded down with what you need. Food and water, of course, and I would assume some ammunition?"  
  
"Only extra shot, Selph," Riku's gaze shifted to the sky high above, "We're going to need to arm myself and Kairi, that's about it. We're not going into war-- we're trying to break a curse."  
  
"You never quite struck me as a curse-breaker."  
  
"Not really; once we're out of Tortuga, we'll be headed back the way we came. You send notice to Leon Loire, would you? The Black Pearl will be ripe for the taking soon enough."  
  
---  
  
"It's about damned time," Ansem growled, following Malificent out of his cabin. Sora tagged along, munching on yet another apple, as he did so. They'd been out at sea for weeks, and yet there had been no sign of the Highwind at all-- even when they had been in sight of Port Royal. So they had set sail back towards the Isla de Bastion, only to have the ship they had been searching for be spotted. It was a right awful feeling to Ansem, to have been outsmarted.  
  
"I'm having a thought here, Ansem," Sora stepping in front of the captain, disrupting the view through the spyglass, "What say we run up a flag of truce? I scurry over to the Highwind, and I negotiate the return of your medallion, aye? What say you to that?"  
  
"Now you see, Sora," Ansem clapped a hand on the younger man's shoulder, "That's exactly the attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easy to search when they're dead. Lock him in the brig."  
  
"Wha...?" Sora blinked as Malificent hauled him off by his coat. Twisting, he called back to the white haired man, "At least think about it!"   
  
He got no response as he was dragged down, and through into one of the cages that made up the Pearl's brig. Water sloshed about his ankles, and he gave a pained sigh, "Apparently, mate, there's a leak."   
  
Malificent smirked at him, before striding away, and Sora was left to stare at the ground. Well, at least now he knew why his ship was so bloody dank.   
  
---  
  
The squawked warning of Goofy's Parrot came a moment before the curses of Donald. Shading his eyes, Riku turned to stare behind them, and let loose his own epitaphs, "The Black Pearl!"  
  
"She's gaining on us," Yuffie cursed, "Damn, almost back to the island, and they catch up to us!"  
  
"This is the fastest ship in the Caribbean!" Kairi protested, eyes wide. To her eternal surprise, Riku was the one to respond to her-- with a sharp barking laugh.  
  
"You can tell them that after they've caught us!"  
  
"Riku..." she shook her head, before her eyes raced about, searching for something she could do as the crew flew into panic-sped motions in an attempt to stay out of the Black Pearl's reach, "We're shallow on the draft, right?"  
  
"Aye..."  
  
"Well, then can't we lose them amongst those shoals?"  
  
Donald had come up behind her, and was grinning, "We don't have to outrun them long... just long enough."  
  
Yuffie stared in silence, weighing the idea for it's merit, and finally decided to try it. There wasn't much else they could do, "Lighten the ship, stem to stern!"  
  
The grizzled man whirled about, calling to the men, "Anything that we can afford to lose-- see that it's lost!"  
  
Riku went to work, helping the men throw their supplies overboard-- better to be sick than dead, after all. Though the sick may not agree with that, he was a survivor, and dammit, he wasn't going to get killed by the man who had stolen his body! These thoughts in mind, he peered out to check the progress of their opponents, and cursed.   
  
They'd brought out the oars.   
  
His foot came down atop one of the cannons, seconds before it would have been shoved off, "We're going to need that."  
  
"It was a good plan, lass, up 'til now," Yuffie muttered, catching sight of the same thing Bootstrap had. The other pirate bounded up the stairs, a grim set to his face.  
  
"We have to make a stand, we must fight! Load the guns!"  
  
"With what?" spat the current Captain.  
  
"Anything. Everything! Anything we have left!" Riku's look had darkened, "I'm not going to let Ansem win again, Yuffie."  
  
"Aye," Donald agreed, "We've done to much to allow for the bastard to get his hands on what he wants."  
  
"I thought that was what we were doing," Kairi muttered, having been clued in on Riku's plan to uncurse the pirates then wait for Loire to shoot them out of the water. It looked, however, like that plan had been utterly defeated by this sudden turn of events.   
  
Her words were ignored as Donald went half-way down the stairs to the deck and bellowed, "Load the guns! With anything that's left, lads, load the guns!" And promptly had his rum flask swiped as one of those 'anythings left'.  
  
"She'll rake us without ever presenting a target," Riku muttered, glaring at the ominous ship that was fast approaching.  
  
"Lower the anchor on the right side!" Kairi seemingly proclaimed out of thin air. With a realization that came only from being friends with her for so long, Riku suddenly knew what she was up to, as she repeated her words, "The starboard side!"  
  
"It's the only one that has the element of surprise," Riku offered, grim smile still in place. Bootstrap, Yuffie reflected on the stories somewhat affectionately, had always been one for surprising opponents.  
  
"You're daft, the both of you!" She snapped, though she was smiling slightly; it was a plan. Not a good one, but a plan none the less.  
  
"Daft like Sora," Donald laughed from his position on the stairs, and he bellowed another order, "Lower the starboard anchor! Do it ye dogs or it's you we'll load into the cannons!"  
  
"Now what?" Yuffie wondered, and Riku gave her a grin that Kairi matched tooth-for-tooth.  
  
"Let go."  
  
Off the wheel went the Captain's hands, and the ship spun about, bringing the Highwind's guns to bare. Bootstrap's voice rang out, loud enough to be heard on the Black Pearl, "Keep us steady, now... FIRE!"  
  
Ansem's echoing roar of the same sent a volley of cannonballs into the Highwind, while they pelted the Pearl with cutlery and crushed glass.  
  
Riku could have sworn he heard Sora shout, "Stop blowing holes in my ship!" but he couldn't be sure, with the explosions going on about them. The pirates of the Black Pearl began to board them, and Donald cursed, turning to Kairi, "We could use a few more ideas, lass."  
  
The redhead could only shrug in apology, "Your turn."  
  
"Then we need a devil's dowry," it was the only think Donald could think of.   
  
"We'll give them her," Yuffie growled, drawing her pistol and setting it against the girl's temple. Riku shook his head.  
  
"It's not her what they're after, Yuffie."  
  
Kairi slapped her hand against her chest, then froze, "The medallion! Riku, I gave it to you, where is it?!"  
  
"Below," was Riku's only answer, before he bolted. They had to find the medallion, else everything was lost. Well, no, his blood, _and_ the medallion were what were needed to break the curse, but he wouldn't give his blood up willingly if the medallion was stolen.  
  
He sighed as he scrambled through the water that was filling the hold, looking for that accursed piece. Why had Kairi taken it in the first place? If she had just left it, then maybe-- maybe-- Ansem wouldn't have come after them. Dammit all.  
  
He could hear more explosions come from above, and the ship rocking with each successive hit. Then came the sound of... falling wood? His head snapped up, and he stared in shock and horror as the mask came down across the only entrance into the hold. He was trapped. Panicked as he was, he didn't even see the monkey bound through the holes in the grill.  
  
On the Pearl, Sora grinned to himself, snagging a rope. While he wasn't all that happy that his ship was being blasted to pieces, at least one blast had shot through the lock on the door to his cell and allowed him his freedom. Cheerfully, he swung across to the Highwind, planting both feet on the ground beside Donald.  
  
"Sora?!"  
  
"Hey mate, s'bloody empty," and Sparrow slapped the swiped flask against Donald's chest, grinning. Donald chuckled despite the situation and stuffed it into his vest. Casting about, Sora's eyes fell upon the reason for this entire venture, and the pirate that was about to take off her head with a sword. Catching the bastard's wrist, he clucked his tongue, "Now... that's not very nice. Where's the medallion?"  
  
"Wretch," Kairi snapped, arm swinging back to crack him across the face with the tonfa she had been using to block the pirate's previous attacks, but like he had the pirate, he caught the girl's wrist.   
  
"Ah... where's dear Riku?"  
  
"Riku?" Startled, she whirled about, eyes landing on the hold entrance that was held shut by the fallen mast, "Riku!" With nary another thought in her head, the girl raced over to her best friend, and began shoving at the mast, trying to move it.  
  
"Kairi!"  
  
"I can't move it," she whimpered, but continued to attempt to shove it off of the entrance despite this. Sora cast about for any other troubles, and his true blue eyes landed on the monkey escaping from the hold-- the monkey with the Aztec gold in hand.  
  
"Monkey!" And the pirate tore off after the creature, scrambling on hands and knees over the mast back toward the Black Pearl. His forward momentum was brought to a halt when the monkey scrambled up the body on one Captain Ansem. Sora froze.  
  
"Why thank you, Sora."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
"Oh, not you," the pirate grinned widely, "We named the monkey Sora."   
  
Ouch, Sora winced, there's a blow to the ego.  
  
"Gents!" Ansem roared, and Sora watched as Kairi was dragged off the Highwind, kicking, screaming and even going so far as to bite her captor's arm-- not something he would want to do, knowing that they were Heartless, but let the girl do what she wanted, "Our hope is restored!"   
  
There was a mighty roar from the Heartless Pirates, the last of them coming across with the rounded up members of Yuffie's crew, including Yuffie herself. The cheer was soon drowned out by the Highwind exploding, flames rocketing into the air as the gun powder within ignited.  
  
"...Riku..."  
  
---  
  
End Part Four  
  
Riku: ... Well, now everyone knows why I was chosen to be Will.  
  
Sora: Never would have thought of that myself, actually.  
  
Riku: Would you take those damned beads out?  
  
Sora: No. I like them. *smiles*  
  
Kairi: I think they're cute.  
  
Sora: See? Kairi likes them!  
  
Riku: Who? I see no one here but the two of us, Sora.  
  
Kairi: You're still not mad at me, are you?  
  
Riku: So, how do you think I'm going to kill Ansem?  
  
Sora: Hey! I'm the one who gets to kill Ansem!  
  
Kairi: It was just a joke, Riku...  
  
Riku: He screwed _my_ life over. I get to kill him!  
  
Sora: No way! I killed him in my game, I'm going to kill him in my story!  
  
Kairi: Okay, so now neither of you are listening to me?  
  
Riku: Who said this was _your_ story?!  
  
Sora: Obviously, the movie is Jack's. I'm playing Jack. So it's _my_ story!  
  
Riku: *tackles Sora and they proceed to wrestle*  
  
Kairi: Guys! Guys, stop it! Guys! 


	5. Part Five

37.4KB/15 pages without notes.  
  
Well, this took a bit longer than I was hoping in order to get it out, but it's rather understandable; I'm back at school now, and I have less time to work on any of my works of fiction. I have thirty hours per week of classes to take, and as I'm in second semester, there's a lot of work to be done. Of course, I'm also on academic probation, which means that I have to get my butt in gear and do my work. Cuts into my fanfiction time, but quite frankly, getting that exceedingly high paying job that I'm told I'll get if I pass my Computer Engineering Technologies course takes precedence.  
  
Not that I have a job right now... ah, the joys of being money-less. I survive off of the allowance my parents give me (why yes, I am eighteen...) and what cash I got for my birthday (in October-- it's mostly gone now) and for Christmas (substantially less than my birthday money).  
  
Oh well, I have my Kingdom Hearts, my Pirates of the Caribbean, my Highlander, and my Priest manwha (no, that is _not_ a misspelling of "manga") to occupy my time. Hmm... maybe my next fic should be a Priest/Kingdom Hearts fusion, although that will be harder to place the characters. Ivan would be... Riku; Lizzie/Kairi; Coburn/Sora; Temozarela/Ansem; Novic/Cairo/Donald/Goofy; Lucian/... uh... I can't really think of someone who matches Father Lucian. Well, there goes my attempt to cast Priest as Kingdom Hearts characters.   
  
Anyone else a fan of Priest, or is it just me? If it's just me, then I really _do_ have to write that fusion, just to turn people on to the manwha. It's _good_ man; real good! Go. Read it. Now. It may be a bit hard to find volume one, since it's been out for a year or so now-- been reading it since the second volume was released (bought 1 & 2 at the same time... there are 10 volumes so far. They come out, roughly, every second month or so.  
  
Bah, you don't want to hear me rambling about Priest, so onto the review response.  
  
Alana Hikari-Chan - Yes, he's in mortal peril. It is a time of piracy, after all. And I have issues with the 'to' 'too' thing. I can never remember when 'too' is supposed to be used-- so I tend to ignore it, and hope people don't notice ^_^;;  
  
Disclaimer in Part One.  
  
--------  
  
Pirates of Destiny Isle  
  
Part Five  
  
Priest Li Xiang  
  
--------  
  
Had he taken two moments longer, he knew, without a doubt, that he would have been dead. Unfortunately, he had no idea if he would survive his current mess-- he'd been far to close to the explosion when it went off, and had been knocked unconscious. As luck would have it, death was not to take him that day as despite being flung from the exploding ship, he had somehow managed to land on a section of the hull that was not on fire. But unfortunately for Riku Turner, he had been out for five and a half hours, and the Black Pearl was little more than a speck on sunlit waves.   
  
Dammit all.  
  
To be perfectly honest, Riku didn't know if he could die. He wasn't really... real, after all. It was strange to think of himself as abstractly as that, but it was the truth-- his body was in the hands of Ansem, and he himself was a form crafted by his Heart, when it had been ejected from his then Heartless body. Why the curse hadn't been transferred with his Heart, he did not know, but for some reason he suspected that his Heart was not supposed to have been able to survive without his body.   
  
It almost made him wish that he and Sora hadn't decided to see the outside world all those long years ago. It almost made him want to be back on that island in the middle of nowhere, surviving with their families. Almost.  
  
Riku wouldn't give up everything that had happened to them since that day he, Sora, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie had set sail, eager to see the world. While it had been harsh, and they had all changed from the children they had been at the time, it had defined him. It had defined Sora, as well. The oh-so-noticeable changes of the past ten years played a large part as well. Sora was not the brash, almost hyper youth he'd been. He, himself, was not the smirking, arrogant man that had been Sora's better in nearly everything.  
  
So much had changed, he knew, but still... some part of him hummed with anticipation. Some part of him whispered that they were nearing this adventure's end, and about to set sail upon another. Hardship after hardship had befallen them, but the sun was on the horizon, and for the first time in a decade, it wasn't red.   
  
Now, he just had to stop thinking so poetically, and start trying to find a way to either get back to land, or catch up with the Black Pearl. He was seriously doubting the possibility of the second.  
  
---  
  
"Well then, missy, since you're no use to us, I see no reason to keep ye aboard," the white haired Ansem was grinning maliciously at Kairi, who stood nervously at the end of the plank. They had set sail almost immediately for a small spit of land, having decided to take care of some 'left over' business. It was most unfortunate, Ansem reflected somewhat sourly, that the young Turner had perished with the Highwind; something he had only learned when the redheaded girl had accidentally spilled the fact that Riku Turner had been on ship when it went up.  
  
They would be taking the crew of the Highwind to every port-- pirate or not-- that they came across, to make a point. For each port, one man of Sparrow and Turner's crew would be executed, and their bodies "gifted" to the people who manned the ports. It would be a warning for those who thought to rise up against Ansem and the Black Pearl-- no one could win. Forever and eternity, they would be pirates, and they would track down any man, woman or child with the name of Turner, and spill their blood across the Aztec gold. Certainly someone out there had to be a relative of Bootstrap's-- a brother, sister, or cousin of some sort or another.   
  
But for now, they were taking care of the useless Miss Kairi-- who had repeatedly refused to give her true family name-- and the damn near impossible to kill Sora Sparrow. Sorry, 'Captain' Sora Sparrow.  
  
"Though..." Ansem continued, tapping his chin with a thoughtful look, "It does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads?" His crew laughed in agreement, and Ansem turned his gaze fully back to the Governor's daughter, "So I'll be having that dress back before you go."  
  
Sora rolled his eyes at the dramatics, before leaning over to one of the men who was holding him in place, "You know," he tried, in a last attempt to save his own hide, "I always liked you."  
  
"Shut it, Sparrow," the pirate snapped back, eyes raking across Kairi's form as she pealed the wine-colored dress from her body, eyes narrowing sharply as she glowered at the pirate captain. Her lips were tightly pursed, and cheeks flushed with anger and embarrassment. She was down to the white cotton dress that was her under garments, and although it was thankfully cooler without the heavy dress to soak up the sunshine, it was still embarrassing to be without the top dress. Kairi spat at him, "It matches the empty place where your heart used to be."  
  
"Ah, but I still have a Heart," Ansem grinned, nuzzling the cloth, "Oooh, it's still warm."  
  
"Of course it is," she shot back flatly, "The sun's still up, isn't it?"  
  
"I never did much care for that mouth of yours," Malificent sneered, before stomping on her end of the plank, and sending Kairi off with a small shriek of surprise. Laughter arose amongst the pirates of the Black Pearl, and even under the waters, Kairi swore she could hear their mocking tones. With a kick, she broke the surface of the warm waters, shaking limp red hair out of her face, and glaring up at the ship. Then she began towards the near-by island, thankful that Riku, her father, and Commodore Loire had thought it prudent for her to learn how to swim, what with the area of the world she was living in.  
  
"I really had rather hoped we were past all of this," no, he was not whining, no matter how much it sounded like he was. Captain Sora Sparrow did _not_ whine. Ever. Even when Bootstrap had stolen his favorite sword-- he never whined. He didn't pout either, he reminded himself, trying to pull his bottom lip back in, and restrain the puppy-dog eyes that wanted so desperately to come into play. They hadn't worked on Ansem a decade prior, they wouldn't work on his former first mate this time, either.  
  
"Sora, Sora, Sora," Ansem scolded with a chuckle, "Did ye not notice? That bit of island is the same spit that we made you Governor of one our last little trip."  
  
Sparrow winced slightly, trying not to follow as Ansem pointed out the tiny tropical island, but unable to help himself, "I did notice."  
  
"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape," the scorn in the Heartless Pirate's voice was practically dripping from his words, "But I thoroughly doubt that. Off you go now," and his sword tip rested on the prominent edge of Sora's collarbone. The younger pirate swallowed slightly, before alighting on a proper plan.  
  
"Last time you left me a pistol with one shot," he reminded the man cheerfully, pushing the sword away and ignoring the way it scraped painfully across his skin.  
  
"By the powers, you're right!" Ansem was grinning, as it had obviously struck him before, and he had only been waiting to see if the mad Sparrow would recall his weaponry, "Lads! Where be Sora's pistol? Bring it forward!"  
  
"Seeing as there's two of us," Sora threw in with a wry grin, "A gentleman would give us a pair of pistols."  
  
The narrowed eyed stare he got in return told him, point blank, that he was stepping over the invisible lines Ansem had put pretty much everywhere, "It'll be one pistol, same as before, and you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady, and starve to death yourself." Without another word, the pistol was thrown overboard, and Sora followed it over almost desperately. Again, the pirates' mocking laughter followed the man.   
  
Don't you worry, Sora thought, snatching up his weaponry, directing a furious glare through the water towards his ship, I will get my revenge, Ansem. Not just for stealing my ship, but for taking my crew-- my _family_. You're a dead man, as soon as I figure out how to kill you.  
  
---  
  
"Man overboard!"   
  
The shout brought Riku back to full consciousness, and his section of the Highwind's hull dipped as he tried to push himself up into a seated position, not quite sure of where he was. When the water splashed on him, he recalled his position and groaned slightly, shading his ocean-blue eyes. Eyes that widened significantly as he recognized the ship that had come up alongside of him. Several familiar faces peered over the edge, including the scarred visage of one Commodore Leon Loire.  
  
"I'm pleased to see that you're still alive, Mister Turner," the former pirate called down, and though his tone and face were blank, Riku had had enough experience-- both with the pirate and with the commodore-- to recognize the smug look in his eyes.  
  
"Alive is a relative term, Leonhart!" he shouted back, stretching out to grasp the rope that had been dropped into the waters by him. He was weak from the sun, but the fact that he was near someone he had known for many, many years-- as well as the possibility of having real food-- gave him enough strength to hold the rope until he was pulled on board. The pirate turned blacksmith rubbed his face tiredly as he came on deck, and found himself facing the cool gaze of Commodore Loire, "Before you even think of the irons, Leonhart, I suggest you listen to what I say, or neither of us will see Kairi again."  
  
"My name," the Commodore stressed with narrowed eyes, "Is Leon Loire. Not Leonhart."  
  
"You can keep pretending, Squall," Riku was careful to keep his voice just as quiet as the Commodore's had been as they spoke. For the crew to learn that the man they sailed under had once been a pirate... well, very little good could possibly come from it, "But I knew you fifteen years ago, and I know you now. You're not as different as you pretend to be."  
  
The words startled the man, and his storm-gray eyes searched the ocean-blues of the youth before him, and found in them, an old friend. Someone he'd not seen in ten years; someone long thought dead, and one that he and his men had pulled from the waters with four others that had eventually become a pirate under his command, "Bootstrap."  
  
"The one and only," Riku's smile was tight, "And right now, both Sora and Kairi are in the hands of dear ol'Captain Ansem."  
  
Leon Loire stared long and hard at the youth, "I cannot do what I once did."  
  
"Why not?" Riku stared hard at the man, "Are you scared, Squall? Is that it? Is that why you gave up? Why you turned your back on what you are, what you've always been, just to become what you've always hated?"  
  
"You don't know what you're talking about," the commodore growled, voice low and harsh. Riku's eyes lit with amusement.  
  
"That has to be it," was his smug response, "You only get riled up when someone guesses what's on your mind, Squally-boy."  
  
"Don't. Call. Me. That," Leon ground out eyes flashing with barely suppressed rage. The blacksmith stared the man down, meeting him gaze for gaze, as he had those long years ago when he had asked to become a part of the crew of the Balamb. Well, asked being a relative term-- Riku had all but demanded. And he had liked it. He liked have the brash youth under his command, doing what he asked. While he had disliked being made Captain of the Balamb when old Cid had gone off to some island or another to be with his wife, he had _liked_ knowing that he had someone as strong as Riku 'Bootstrap' Turner under his command.   
  
Even as a Commodore, even as highly feared by pirates as he was, he missed that. He missed that sense of control and belonging that he had once had when he had been a pirate.   
  
But... he had responsibilities now. He couldn't just take up that life style anymore.  
  
"Why not?"   
  
He started, not realizing that he had spoken aloud, and looked back up into the eyes of the younger body of his one-time friend, the best friend of his former first mate, Sora Sparrow. While the face was younger, those eyes were as old as he should have been-- something that Loire had missed all those times that the blacksmith and he had met during the duration of his stays at Destiny Island.   
  
"It's... not right."  
  
"Since when has that stopped you?" the boy wondered, "Squall, you were given to Cid and Edea by the Governor of Port Royal-- your own father. He knew they were pirates, and he still let them have you. You weren't meant for the position you're in." Leon's stare said it all, demanding to know why he thought such things, and Riku shrugged, "Come on, Leonhart, where's that fire Almasy always ranted about when we crossed blades? Where's that screw-the-rules attitude you always used to take? What happened to you, old friend?"  
  
"Seif... Almasy is dead," Leon's flat tone said he would not expand on it, but Turner had the feeling that Squall felt it was his fault that his friend turned enemy had been executed for piracy. Despite the intervening decade and a half since the blonde pirate captain had been killed, the commodore still felt that it was his fault that the man had been killed. It was a harsh judgment on himself, Riku knew. He'd been in much the same position when he had gone along with Ansem's mutiny plans-- some lingering sense of guilt had plagued him, even during those memory-less years as a young blacksmith, until he had seen Sora's face when they fought in the smithy.   
  
He knew that Leonhart wouldn't get the chance to see the blonde again, but that shouldn't have stopped him in the first place. Turner sighed heavily, "Just... think about it, okay? I'll be in your office, stealing your liquor."  
  
---  
  
He barely held back the groan as the girl tromped after him, "But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape in the same way you did then!"  
  
"To what point and purpose?" he wondered, whirling on her, the beads fluttering around his face, "The Black Pearl is gone and unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice-- unlikely-- there's no way to get off this sand heap!"  
  
"But... but you're Captain Sora Sparrow!" She ignored it as he rapped on one of the trees, putting it off to his obvious insanity, "You vanished under the eyes of seven agents of the East India company! You sacked Traverse Port without even firing a shot! Are you the pirate I've read about, or not? How did you escape the last time?"  
  
"Last time..." Sora trailed off for a moment to jump up and down in the sand, before sighing, "Last time, I was here a grand total of three days, alright? Last time," he bent down, wiping sand from some wooden planks, before hefting them up to reveal a cellar beneath them, "the rumrunners used this island as a cache. Came by and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably have that bloody traitor 'Leon' to thank for it."   
  
Somewhat morosely, he stomped down the stairs into the cellar and rummaged about for a couple of full bottles of the rum contained within. He was thirsty, and he was hungry, and he was cranky. He might as well get rid of two of those items of the list of what he was. Food... well, he'd have to see how rusty he was at fishing the way he'd been taught as a child. Food shouldn't be much of a problem, but he'd think about that tomorrow. Today was a day to get drunk.  
  
"So that's it then?" he ignored the strained note in her voice, the fact that she was about to cry blowing completely over his head, "That's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Sora Sparrow? You spent three days lying on a beach, drinking rum?"  
  
Hopping out of the cellar, the pirate grinned at her, "Welcome to the Caribbean, love."  
  
---  
  
"I would have thought the Governor would have come with you to find his daughter," Riku commented as Leon entered his office. The older man eyed him for a moment, then gave a slight shrug.  
  
"He had to manage the port," Leon muttered, pulling the jacket that signified his rank off of him, and throwing his hat and wig down so he could rake his fingers through his messy brown-gold hair, "What have I been doing...?"  
  
"Your job," Riku returned, taking a swig from his bottle, and watching the other man through heavy lids, "You became a part of the Royal Navy. Therefore, you hunt down pirates."  
  
"You're not helping."  
  
"I'm playing devil's advocate," Turner pointed out with a wry grin, "So, you've apparently thought about what I said this afternoon."  
  
"Indeed."  
  
"Still the one-word wonder, are you?"  
  
"That was Fujin."  
  
"But the 'really-short-sentence-wonder' just doesn't have the same ring to it," Riku teased his former Captain with a smirk. Before Leon could grace him with one of his famous glares, Riku hopped out of his chair and padded towards the commodore, "So, what's your decision then? Captain or Commodore, Squall or Leon?"  
  
Leon's gaze turned distant for a moment, then he frowned, getting to his feet, "Where was Sora marooned the last time?" Riku grinned widely at his non-answer. It may have seemed to have been an attempt to change the conversation to anyone else, but Bootstrap knew damn well what it mean.  
  
Squall Leonhart had returned to the seas. Let heaven weep, and hell scream, because Squall did not leave survivors when he decided to use lethal force. He wondered how long it would take for the crew to realize that their Commodore had returned to his roots as a pirate Captain, then wondered why he cared.  
  
The age of pirates had been dying out before. Riku, Sora, Yuffie, Donald, and the rest of their ilk had been about to loose their life's blood. They were loosing what had made them great.   
  
But now, one of the greatest had returned.   
  
"Commodore!" the shout came through the door, and the two men glanced at each other, before Squall gave the order to enter the cabin. Aeris stood there, dressed as always in her male guise, a frown turning her lips as she took in her commanding officer's state of dress, before shaking it off, "Hercules spotted a light in the distance-- there's a fire, sir! It's controlled, so we can only assume that there is someone there."  
  
"If I remember right," Riku muttered, "We _were_ close to the island Ansem marooned him on before, when you picked me up."  
  
"We'll head towards it then," Leon commanded, eyes oddly bright-- at least in Aeris' opinion-- "And see to whomever it is that has caught the attention of the Ragnarok."  
  
"Sir...?" But Aeris would get no answer, as the dark haired man pushed past her and out onto the deck, not even bothering to gather the signs of his rank. Her confused gaze turned to Riku, only to find him slipping by her with a wry grin in place.  
  
"Don't try to understand it, Aeris," chuckled the blacksmith, "Just go with it."  
  
She didn't know if she liked the tone in his voice or not.  
  
---  
  
Night had fallen long ago, and Sora had built up a fire using dry grass and the glass from his rum bottles. It had taken a bit longer than he had hoped it would, but eventually they had the flames stoked and jumping high into the sky, burning the broken boxes and empty rum bottles that had been found in the cellar. Eyes bright, and voices loud, he was swinging about the fire, laughing and dancing and singing as he went, Kairi's voice adding to his own in their strange little duet.  
  
"We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs! Drink up me 'earties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!"  
  
"I love this song!" Sora proclaimed, staggering for a moment towards the flames, before swinging back to take a long drag from his rum bottle, "Really bad eggs! Whoa!" Apparently, he swung a bit to far, and tripped over his own feet, a rain of sand flying up about him as he landed, "When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew and we'll sing it all the bloody time!"  
  
"And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main!" Kairi giggled, collapsing beside him and taking a drag from her own bottle. To be honest, she'd always liked the taste of the drink-- unusual for her, given her normal aversion to such drinks-- so she found no harm in indulging a little. Besides, it wasn't like there was much else to do here... she brushed her fingers across her tonfa, and yelped slightly as they bit into her fingers. She'd forgotten that she'd taken the blades out to show them to Sparrow.  
  
"Eh? Somethin' wrong, love?"  
  
"Cut myself," she muttered, lifting one of the bladed tonfa free, and spinning it artfully about in her hands, before yelping again as it sliced the back of her right hand.  
  
"Careful there, Kairi," Sora grinned, and Kairi couldn't help but think of the man as an older brother of sorts as he took the weapons for her, "You know what these could be used for?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Haircuts!"  
  
"Haircuts?" that was a first. She'd never even considered such a thing.  
  
"Yes, haircuts. I am a master a hairstyling, you know," she cast a dubious glance to his wild mane of hair that was barely held out of his face with a bandana, his beloved hat having been lost somewhere in the waters when they had been sent off the plank, "You don't believe me? I could give you a style like no other seen before!"  
  
"That, I do not doubt," she returned, taking another drink, "Whether I like it is a different story entirely!"  
  
"Well, you won't know until you try, love! Come on then, just sit in ol'Sora's lap, and I'll style y'up something nice indeed."  
  
She figured she probably would regret this come morning and the hangover, but right now... it actually sounded like something of a good idea. With a laugh, the half-way-to-drunk young woman scrabbled into the lap of the older man, swaying a bit as she leaned forwards to give him room to work, "Hack away, Master Barber!"  
  
Grinning widely, Sora adjusted his grip on the tonfa, moving from the handle to holding the back of the blade, "Now then, dear Miss Swann, try not to move to much-- we wouldn't want to nick your pretty little neck, now would we?"  
  
"A few nicks and cuts wouldn't be all that damaging, Mister Sparrow," she returned as her gaze cast out over the dark waters of the Caribbean, "Just as long as you don't behead me."  
  
"I am certainly not that clumsy!" the man huffed indignantly, before diligently settling to work. Crimson strands fluttered to the ground as Kairi's mid-back length locks were sheared away by the sharp edge of the tonfa. Obviously, Sora thought with some amusement, the girl spent far to much time caring for her weapons. Hardly a nick in them, there was! His own sword was pockmarked with the signs of use and battle, and it always surprised him to come across such a well maintained weapon.  
  
They continued on in silence, Sora determined to give the girl a unique hairstyle, and Kairi swaying as the rum caught up with her. She had almost passed out when Sora proclaimed himself done, and handed her back the tonfa. The weapon returned to it's casing, and she lifted a hand to see how much hair was gone-- it was the best she could do without a mirror, after all.  
  
"Sora!" she squawked, coming almost fully back into consciousness, and spinning around to glare at the man who's lap she still sat in, "You cut off all my hair!"  
  
"Not all of it love," Sora waggled a finger in her face with a wide grin, "Just most of it. And think! No other woman has a haircut like this!"  
  
"But... but..."  
  
"No buts, missy; it's a fine haircut."  
  
She scowled at him, eyes narrowed sharply, "You... you--"  
  
"Insufferable bastard?" the voice of one Riku Turner cut in, causing the marooned pair to whirl about. A small lifeboat had come up on shore while they had been preoccupied, and Sora felt he could only blame the drink for not noticing it. Of course, it could just be a hallucination, he frowned in thought, because the young man that now stood before him was supposed to be dead.  
  
And the fact that Squall Leonhart was with him was another point in the 'hallucination' category.  
  
Kairi, on the other hand, gave a yip of delight-- something Riku hadn't heard from the girl in nearly five years-- and threw herself at the supposed apparition. Riku sighed, but smiled, and wrapped an arm around her, "Nice hair, Kairi."  
  
"Sora did it," were the first words out of her mouth to the blacksmith.  
  
"Sora was always a little... 'off'," Riku agreed with a solemn nod of his head. Leonhart stepped past the two friends, to peer down at the man laying in the sand. Sora snorted.  
  
"Bugger off, you damned hallucination."  
  
"_You_ know what hallucination means?" the nearly soundless scoff in the older one's voice forced Sparrow to crack an eye open and actually look at the man.  
  
"O'course I do! What do you take me for, an idiot?"  
  
"Simpleton, actually."  
  
"Now that's just plain mean, Squally."  
  
"Hn," and the so-called apparition shrugged, before hauling Sora back onto his feet. The pirate captain blinked a few times.  
  
"Didn't think a hallucination could affect reality," frowning, he came to the only logical conclusion, "You're ghosts! I know Riku died, so you must have died, too!"  
  
"..."  
  
"Where the hell did you get _that_ idea from?" Riku rolled his eyes, exasperated, "I didn't die. I just got very lucky. Get in the boat, Sora, before I have to take a lash to your hide."  
  
"You, Mister Turner, are very cruel," But he got into the boat anyways, "Do you have any rum?"  
  
"No," Leonhart muttered, pushing the boat back out into the waters, before climbing in himself.  
  
"It's all gone, Sora," Riku grinned, just knowing what would come next. Sparrow was always so amusing when someone informed him of the lack of something he wanted. While the young man he'd known so long ago would never have touched rum with a forty foot pole, he had been practically addicted to various food stuffs over the years. He could only assume that Sora was the same now, with his rum.  
  
"Why is the rum gone?"  
  
"It just is," Riku teased with a wry smirk that Sora couldn't see, what with the silver haired youth's back to him.  
  
"But _why_ is the rum gone?!"  
  
---  
  
"Shiver me timbers!"  
  
"Goofy 'ere says you missed a bit," Donald pointed out with a tight-lipped grin. They'd already lost one man to the pirates' port-to-port warning system, so none of the pirates locked in the brig were in all that great of a mood. At least, though, they would get a few days grace, what with all the gold the pirates of the Black Pearl had looted from ships going into and out of the port that they had dropped the body off at. Kingsley would be missed, but quite frankly, Donald was just glad it hadn't been him.  
  
"Shaddup," Hook snapped, but he shifted the mop anyways, to catch the spot he had, indeed, missed.  
  
"Been wondering," Yuffie muttered with a cross look at both Hook and Jafar, "what happened to Riku Turner."  
  
"He got blown up, he did," Hook stopped swabbing to scowl at her, "You were there!"  
  
"Not that Turner," she shot back, "I meant Bootstrap."  
  
"Ol'Bootstrap," Jafar interjected with a frown, "deserved what he got."  
  
Donald's stout form crept closer to the cage bars, a curious, wondering frown puckering his lips and creasing his forehead, "And what was that?"  
  
"The fool helped us to mutiny against Sparrow, and then 'came to his senses', to quote his own words," Jafar stopped his actions, leaning against the handle of the mop in his hands, eyes distant as he tried to recall everything that had happened way back when, "He claimed it wasn't 'right with the code', and so sent off a piece of the treasure-- didn't find out 'til recently it was sent to that boy of his. He said we deserved to be cursed... and to remain cursed."  
  
"Stupid blighter," Hook grumbled.  
  
"Good man," Donald corrected with slightly strained smirk.   
  
Jafar ignored them both, "But as you can imagine, that didn't sit to well with the Captain."  
  
"That didn't sit too well with the Captain at all," Hook nodded rapidly, a wide grin in place as he gave the prisoners a smug look, "Tell them what Ansem did!"  
  
"I'm telling the story!" the tall man hissed, fury dancing in his eyes, annoyed with Hook's constant interruptions, "So, what the Captain did, was that he took ol'Bootstrap, and tied him to the mast, aye? Waited until Bootstrap was delirious, then plunged his hands right into the bastard's chest!"  
  
"It made for quite the sight!" was Hook's enthusiastic agreement.  
  
"Aye, it did," Jafar nodded, grinning nastily, "Took his Heart from him, and then let it go. Said he didn't want to have to deal with the Heart's contamination, before he took control of Bootstrap's body. He still wears it, you know."  
  
"Disgusting," one of the pirates that had formed Sparrow's crew muttered, although it was far to low for either Jafar or Hook to be able to hear him.  
  
"'Course..." Jafar added in, somewhat distantly, "It was only after that, that we learned that we needed Turner's blood to lift the curse-- and the connection that blood had to his Heart. The Captain's Heart corrupted Bootstrap's body to the point where his blood didn't work no more."  
  
Hook nodded, surprisingly solemn, "That's what you call ironic."  
  
"Get up here you fools!" Ansem's voice echoed through the brig, "We're not going to stow your swag for you!"  
  
"Aye Captain!" both pirates called back, dropping their mops and scrabbling up the stairs. Wouldn't want one of the others to steal their stolen goods.  
  
---  
  
Squall Leonhart was in his element-- of sorts. Truly, battle was his element, but for now he had to deal with the tactical part of that. It had taken some doing to convince the Navy men that crewed the Ragnarok to head for the Isla de Bastion, but in the end they had wanted to get the 'last true pirate ship' on the seas. It had taken little more than Kairi announcing that the Black Pearl had been heavily damaged in it's battle with the Highwind, to get them to agree to it. So now, here he was in a boat with Hercules, Aladdin, Riku and Sora, staring into the mouth of the Isla de Bastion, "Storming the cave could turn to an ambush."  
  
"Not if you're the one doing the ambushing," Sora pointed out, slinging an arm around the older man's shoulders, as he had all those years ago, back when he'd been the man's first mate, "I go in to convince Ansem to send his men out in their little boats. You and the crew return to the Ragnarok and blast the beejesus outta them with your little cannons, aye? What do you have to lose?"  
  
Squall stared down at the limb across his shoulders, before shrugging out of it, "Nothing that couldn't be replaced."  
  
"You're very cruel, you know that?" Sora sighed, "First you want me to sail under your colors, and now you say I can be replaced? Cruel, indeed. Malicious even!"  
  
Leonhart rolled his eyes, and let the boy rant on for awhile. He was sure Hercules and Aladdin were confused about the 'sailing under his colors' remark, but he let them stew on it for a bit. He was planning on informing the crew of their becoming pirates after they had safely rescued the pirates that had formerly been crewing the Highwind, and got rid of Ansem once and for all.   
  
He, himself, hadn't wanted to go after Ansem, until the duet of whining from Riku and Sora had mentioned Yuffie's presence. The girl had long been one of his dear friends, from those days spent under Cid's command, sailing on the Balamb and the Trabia-- the ship that had eventually become Yuffie's, only to be stolen by Sparrow, and promptly destroyed a bare month later. Squall Leonhart would not let a friend die unless completely unavoidable.   
  
But he wasn't about to do something and not get something else out of it. That had been a habit that he had been hard pressed to keep hidden when he was a Navy man, but now a pirate once again, he indulged himself a bit. He would help Sora get the Pearl back, in exchange for the Pearl sailing under his colors. He knew pirates could command more than a single ship-- Cid had managed it when he was a child, commanding the Balamb, the Trabia and the Galbadia. Though, after Cid's decision to 'retire', no other pirate had managed it.  
  
Squall wanted to be the one to revive it. He wanted to make his name a legend again, although this time, one heard in more places than pirate ports. It wasn't something he had cared for as a young man, but now that he could feel his age starting to creep up on him, he wanted to be remembered for something. Anything.  
  
"Sparrow," he finally interrupted the boy's babbling, "get on with it."  
  
"Get on with what?" The flat gaze he got in return said it all, and Sora blinked, "Oh, right then. C'mon, Riku."  
  
"What do I have to do with anything?" he had been staying silent, in hopes that his lunatic friend-- who _still_ hadn't realized that he wasn't Riku Turner the second, but Bootstrap himself-- and the former Commodore would forget his existence.  
  
"Well, you're all a part of the plan, m'boy!"  
  
"That fails to inspire confidence, Sparrow," still, as Sora hopped from one boat to another, allowing the men in that small rowboat to get into their Commodore's boat, the silver haired one followed suit. Somehow, he had a feeling that Sora didn't have a clue what he was doing, and was merely going by the seat of his pants.   
  
When they were a considerable distance from Leonhart and the rest of the crew, Sora stopped rowing, "I need to tie your hands together."  
  
Eyeing the man suspiciously, he held his hands out in front of him, but the pirate shook his head, "Behind your back."  
  
"Not on your life, Sora," Riku shot back, "Out in front, or I don't help."  
  
"Stubborn bastard," Sora griped, but capitulated. It wouldn't due to argue with the boy, having tried to do so several times before, both times they were sailing together in the past couple months. Winding the rope around Turner's wrists, he stopped to study his handiwork. Yes, this would do nicely. Very nicely.   
  
His sudden movements caught Turner off guard, and the boy was rendered unconscious before he knew what hit him.  
  
Yes. Everything was coming together nicely indeed.  
  
---  
  
Riku came to, only to find his hands bound behind his back, and that he was slumped against the stone chest that contained the eight hundred and eighty one Aztec gold coins. Pushing himself up, he blinked blurry eyes at the sight before him-- Sora and Ansem bargaining.  
  
"--rok, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore... waiting for you."  
  
"And why should we care?" Ansem eyed his former Captain, casting a short glance to the boy who was now standing on rather wobbly legs beside the chest. How Sora had come across the boy had yet to be discovered, but quite frankly, he didn't care. Just the sight of the boy, alive, unconscious, and slung over Sparrow's shoulder like a sack had brought hope to his men and himself.   
  
"Just hear me out, mate. You order your men to row out to the Ragnarok; they do what they do best. Robert's your uncle, Fannie's your aunt, there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet. 'Course, you'll take the grandest one as your flagship, and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl?" Sora held up his hands, a grin threatening to break across his face, "Name me Captain, I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder and you get to introduce yourself as... Commodore Ansem. Savvy?"  
  
"And I suppose, in exchange, you want me to just use the whelp's blood, not kill him."  
  
"No, no, no, by all means, kill the whelp. Just... not yet. Wait to lift the curse... until the opportune moment," his eyes flickered to Riku's, "For instance," the pirate was speaking, picking up four medallions, "After you've killed Commodore Loire's men..." and for every word he spoke next, one medallion fell back into the chest, "...every... last... one."  
  
Ocean-blue eyes widened as he caught Sora slipping a coin into his sleeve, and comprehension dawned on him, "You've been planning this from the beginning. Ever since you learned my name."  
  
"Yeah," Sora nodded in agreement.  
  
"I want fifty percent of your plunder," Ansem threw in quite suddenly, and Sora returned his attention back to his one-time first mate.  
  
"Fifteen."  
  
"Forty."  
  
"Twenty-five," Sora grinned, opening his mouth as Ansem looked about to demand the forty percent, "And I'll buy you the hat. A really big one... Commodore."  
  
Ansem was silent, considering the deal, then stuck out his hand, eyes glittering with unholy greed, "We have an accord." Sora's grin was a twisted little grin that did not properly fit his face, as he shook the man's hand, right in front of Riku's nose. The two men turned to the pirates that had been gathered, watching the entire proceedings.  
  
Caught up in the moment, Sora threw his arms out, "All hands to the boats!" Ansem's dark look caused him to pause, "I apologize, you give the orders," and he bowed. There was a mocking edge to the bow, but Ansem's glee at finally nearing the end of his curse caused him to miss it.  
  
"Gents!" the Heartless Captain shouted, "Take a walk!"  
  
"Not to the boats?" Sora queried, looking at the man in askance, as the pirates laughed and began to filter out of the cabin. Riku could only hope that Leonhart was prepared for this. It wasn't exactly an everyday situation, after all. Not even for them.  
  
---  
  
End Part Five  
  
Kairi: Priest wasn't kidding when she said there were major changes.  
  
Sora: But she somehow still managed to keep in bits and pieces of the movie.  
  
Riku: Sora could not knock me out.  
  
Sora: I could too!  
  
Riku: No, you couldn't. Every time you've beaten me has been a fluke.  
  
Kairi: Sure it has, Riku.   
  
Riku: I'm still not talking to you.  
  
Sora: You just did.  
  
Riku: Dammit all!  
  
Kairi: Look, I'm sorry, now stop it. Back to the fic... Sora got to cut my hair?!  
  
Sora: Hey, what's wrong with that?  
  
Kairi: Gee, maybe the fact that you think having beads in your hair is a good thing?  
  
Sora: My beads are cool.  
  
Riku: They're stupid, stop trying to deny it.  
  
Kairi: Well, at least I don't have long hair any more. I happen to like my hair short.  
  
Sora: That would explain why both Riku and me have longer hair than you throughout Kingdom Hearts.  
  
Kairi: Riku's just girly.  
  
Riku: Girly?! I am NOT girly!  
  
Sora & Kairi: You keep thinking that.  
  
Riku: *grumblegrumble*stupidfriends*grumble* 


	6. Part Six

25.5k/11pages without notes -- S'kind short, but it's the final part. 

Yes, I know, I know, it's been way too long. Hush up. I was busy. And lacking of inspiration. But it's here now! 

I have been toying with an idea of a prequel, to see how everyone got to where they were. I have no ideas for a sequel, though you are quite welcome to suggest any. 

---- ---- 

Pirates of Destiny Isle  
Part Six  
Priest Li Xiang 

---- ---- 

She was still only wearing the shift that had been beneath her dress, although it was substantially less now. Time was of the essence, and she didn't want to have to deal with her skirt tangling up in her legs as she went. Once again, the tonfa came out, slicing neatly through her skirt, just beneath her butt. The britches she had been wearing the entire time were stained and dirty from lack of washing, contrasting sharply with the white cotton shift. But Kairi could not possibly care less about what she looked like at that moment-- what she cared about was getting off the Ragnarok and heading for the Black Pearl. 

Loire had wanted her to remain behind, citing her lack of battle experience as the reason. It was a good reason, solid and well founded, but it rankled her that she would be left out of it, after having been such a part of this entire adventure. Still, half the ship's crew manned the deck of the Ragnarok, and half of it floated out on the waves as a precaution. Pirates were, after all, known for their tricks, and she felt it was only proper for the Commodore not to have taken Sparrow's word above all else-- despite her own sisterly feelings for the man. 

What she had no idea of, was that Leonhart had a sinking feeling that about what was happening in the dead of this night, and had only sent a quarter of his men out to sea to allow for them to escape and report the failure, and death, of Commodore Leon Loire. He knew the legends of the Heartless, he knew the only thing that could truly kill them was the Keyblade; a weapon no one had ever actually seen. He knew the way pirates acted, from his own experiences, and he knew what Ansem was like, from the stories he had heard. Danger filled the air, and so Squall had remained on the Ragnarok. 

As Kairi dove out a window and into the waters of the small bay that led to the only place a boat could come ashore on the Isla de Bastion, Squall pulled free his faithful weapon. Designed specifically for him, he hadn't drawn it from it's casings since he had given up pirate-hood. 

The enchanted blade lit the darkened Captain's Cabin with an eerie blue glow, and Squall gave a tight smile as the first warning shout rang out on the deck. It appeared that Ansem's crew had arrived-- he should introduce them to his old friend. Throwing open the door of his little safe haven, all that saw him froze in shock for a moment. 

Ruffled, short brown hair-- cut with a simple hunting knife when he had returned to the ship after letting Sora and Riku go-- and dressed in the comfortable black pants and white shirt with a black vest, his pendant shining with the glow from his blade, he was a sight straight from a nightmare. A nightmare that only pirates had dreamed of before, as the infamous 'undefeated' Squall Leonhart stood in the presence of his brethren and drew a deep breath. 

"To battle!" 

"To battle!" came the echoing roars of the Navy men, and Squall let loose, fearsome blade leaving cold trails through the air as he cut down one pirate after another. 

--- 

Sora was carefully inspecting trinket after trinket, wondering at the stupidity of some of Ansem's men from time to time-- obviously, the piece he was currently holding up wasn't real gold. Ah well, it hardly mattered, he gave an amused smirk and set the small statue back down. Behind him, Ansem had propped himself up against a small mound of treasure likely worth more than all the gold in Governor Swann's possession. 

"I must admit, Sora," the white haired man called to his former captain, eyes heavily lidded as he watched the younger move to another pile, this one of various precious gems, "I thought I had you figured. It turns out that you're a hard man to predict." 

"Me?" Sora laughed, fingering a strand of nearly perfect pearls, "I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest." And he fell silent, now preoccupied with a set of fancy, Germanic jewelry. After awhile, he set it down, and turned about to face Ansem's direction. A tiny smirk curved his lips, but the only one to see it was Ansem. Neither the pirate beside Riku, nor the one between he and his mutinous first mate saw it, and Riku was far to preoccupied by staring down at the Aztec coin now about his neck, where Ansem had chained it for 'safe keeping'. 

"Honestly, now," Sora continued, with an even more over the top dramatic wave of his arms than usual, as he began to approach Ansem, "It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly..." his voice dropped down, and his hand lashed out, snatching up the blade that had rested oh-so-comfortably at the hip of pirate that was now beside him, "...stupid." 

The sword flew through the air, arching towards Riku, and he grinned. The ropes, though having appeared to be tight, had been loose enough for him to work them apart, and now his hands slipped free of them. With his right hand, he caught the sword, whirling about and slamming the pommel into the chin of the pirate that had been watching him, before he'd even noticed that Turner had gotten a hold of the sword. Stumbling the pirate fell back, sliding through the moonlight let in through the air 'vents' in the cavern's ceiling. Riku blinked once, startled by the overall change, it having been many years since he had seen such a thing. But it mattered little now, and he leapt forwards to deal damage to the Heartless. 

Barely ten feet away, Sora danced around Ansem's jabs, and the pirate grinned ferally, "You're off the edge of the map, mate. Here, there be monsters." 

"Well," Sora laughed, his own sword catching Ansem off guard as he finally drew it to parry several powerful strikes, "I've never been one to be afraid of the dark!" 

"You can't beat me, Sora," Ansem's responding grin was viscous as he backed Sora deeper into the caves with his swordsmanship. The pair didn't seem to stop for anything, blades flashing and crashing against one another-- at least until Sora spotted the one thing he had been looking for. 

An opening-- one that was used quite swiftly. Sora's sword pierced through Ansem's breast, and out his back, the younger pirate grinning in victory. It was a short lived victory, however, as Ansem responded in kind, not feeling any pain from the normally mortal wound. 

Sparrow's eyes widened in shock, and both hands flew to his chest. There was a strange choking noise coming from the man's mouth, and Ansem laughed as he stumbled backwards. Like Sora's victory, Ansem's was very quickly brought to an end when the young man stumbled back into the moonlight and revealed his shadowy Heartless self. Sora abruptly stopped exaggerating his wounds and examined his hand in amusement, "That's interesting..." 

A golden medallion rolled across his fingers and halted in his palm. It was a strange sight to see the Heartless waggling it's eyebrows, "Couldn't resist, mate." 

"Apparently so," Ansem drawled, following the other's example by removing the sword from his chest and taking another swing. Sora laughed as he blocked the strike, bouncing in and out of the light of the moon, moving between human and Heartless forms. Ansem did not seem to share Sora's simple joy in the pleasure of the battle, his human-side's face set into an impressive scowl. 

Their blades crossed again, and the pair held them there for a moment in order to catch the breath neither really needed. Ansem's eyebrow raised, "So what now, Sora Sparrow? Will it be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound?" 

"Or you could surrender," Sora grinned cheerfully, his words pulling a bark of laughter from his most hated former first mate. 

Meanwhile, Riku wasn't having nearly as much fun as his old friend apparently was. He was too busy trying to fight off three pirates at the same time, and it was really wearing on him. Finally, he stumbled back, and his current opponent grinned toothily at him, "I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain!" 

"You like pain?" Riku had never been happier to hear Kairi's voice. He was happier still when the girl whirled her tonfa about and slammed both into the pirate's head. He stumbled back a ways in shock, and she continued, "Try wearing a corset!" 

Riku chuckled lightly, and Kairi extended a hand to help the blacksmith to his feet, "You alright, Riku?" 

"A little bit rough 'round the edges, but alright considering," Bootstrap chuckled, shaking out a numb hand. He had attempted to block a powerful swing with a sword far inferior to his own blades, and hadn't compensated properly. His entire arm felt like dead weight, despite the fact that he could still use it. 

Kairi's incredulous voice cut through Riku's contemplation of his arm, "Whose side is Sora on?" 

Riku's lips quirked. How many times had he asked that of his old friend in the past...? Well, however many it was, there was only one solution to that particular question: "At the moment...?" 

Their brief respite was over as the three Heartless pirates returned to attack again. Riku scowled, dropping the sword in favor of a large golden rod that must have come from a bed of some sort. Where else would someone need a gold-covered six foot long staff of wood that was four inches in diameter? 

Whirling it around his body, Riku gleefully used it to batter his opponents, in an attempt to distract them from Kairi. The redheaded girl's eyes were flat as she removed the blades from their tonfa-shaped scabbards, and she prepared to use them as the swords were meant to be used. 

She didn't know how much strength she'd need, so she put the entire force of her body behind the beheading strokes-- one, two, three. Within ten minutes, all three Heartless pirates had their heads and bodies separated, though they still lived. Kairi was feeling sick to her stomach. It was hard to believe that she was the cause of these deaths. Still... 

Eyes turning to Sora and Ansem's battle, she was only peripherally aware of Riku bounding across the stones towards the chest containing the Aztec gold. By the time she realized that was where he was moving, and that Sora and Ansem were just haphazardly banging their swords together, he was already at the chest, and was removing a knife from his pocket. 

Quickly, the girl ran after her friend, only to be brought short at the sight of a gun being aimed at her. Startled, the girl stared at Ansem, who while facing Sora, was looking at her, "One more step, Sparrow, and I shoot." 

The younger pirate stared at the body-snatcher, and licked his dry lips. Quickly, while the other man was distracted, Sora cut open the palm that held his medallion. His slight hiss of pain-- unlike Ansem, he wasn't quite used to being a Heartless, and could not suppress a natural reaction, even if there was no pain-- brought the man's attention back to him, and Ansem hiked an eyebrow, "What do you think you're doing?" 

"A little of this, a little of that," Sora smiled cheerfully, and in a motion that was completely unexpected, reared back and threw the medallion at Riku as hard as he could. A mere instant later, the sound of gunfire filled the room-- and Kairi collapsed with a gasp of pain. Her hand flew to her shoulder, clutching at the spot where blood began to blossom on her undershirt. 

Ansem, too, looked down at his chest, and raised an eyebrow, turning to face Sora. Sparrow's smoking gun was still aimed at him, an unusually grim look on the boy's face, "Ten years you carry that pistol and now you waste your shot." There was something far to smug in Ansem's voice, and in his face. 

A smugness that was washed away by Turner's voice: "He didn't waste it." 

Whirling, the Heartless was just in time to witness the two golden medallions hit the rest of their brethren. His fingers felt numb. For the first time in years, his fingers were numb. The sword they held hit the ground without another thought, and the pirate captain's eyes fluttered as he attempted to stay conscious, "I feel..." he whispered, barely responsive fingers pulling at his jacket to reveal the red spot of blood seeping through the shirt beneath, " 

Ten years was a long time. When Ansem reverted to the fully human form of Riku "Bootstrap" Turner, he still bore the injuries that the other man had had the day he was cursed. Atop that was the gunshot wound that had only barely begun to heal itself over with the energies that came with being a Heartless. There was nothing there to stop him from dying from blood loss. 

All these things raced through the sadistic man's mind as his legs gave out on him, and he collapsed into a pile of women's clothing. Distantly, he wondered where the clothing had come from, but that hardly mattered, as the body that wasn't his gave out on him, and his soul passed on. 

Kairi stumbled to her feet, hand still on her shoulder, as she heard her friend cry out in pain, and tumble backwards away from the chest of gold, "R-RIKU!" her shriek cut the air, and Sora found himself moving to check on the boy, just as Kairi was. When they got to his side, they had not expected what they got. 

Riku's eyelids were fluttering madly, his eyes darting to and fro beneath them. His breath hitched, and his body spasmed. Ignoring her own injuries, the governor's daughter pulled the young man into her lap, gritting her teeth as her gunshot wound pulled painfully. That didn't matter. What mattered was that her friend appeared to be possessed by the devil; it was the only solution her frayed mind could gather from what she was witnesses. 

Because there was no way that Riku's skin could be pulling itself apart only to seal up rapidly again, leaving fresh scars. Fresh scars that, in a matter of moments, faded away as though he had had them for many long years. Worried, the girl went for the only thing that could calm her at times like this-- she pulled the leather strap from her friend's hair, and began to brush it out with her fingers. 

She didn't noticed the strangled noise that came from Sora's mouth, as he realized, for the very first time, what he was looking down at. Who he was looking down at. Those scars were as familiar to him as his own-- he had been raised alongside Bootstrap. He'd been there to witness Riku getting the majority of those scars. There was no way in hell that he'd be able to mistake them for anything but what they were. 

His eyes darted over to the body of Ansem, and he was more shocked to find that the man's white hair was darkening to red, and the scars that had decorated his face were fading-- were being replaced by the ones that Ansem had earned. 

A lump caught in his throat, Ansem's words coming back to him. Switching scars? No, it was more like... switching bodies, only with Riku not getting Ansem's. He didn't pretend to understand what was really happening here. No, all he wanted now was a good bottle of rum. That would clear everything up. 

Searching for something to do, other than watch the disturbing recreation of his old friend, Sora's eyes scanned the cave. He didn't really feel up to inspecting the loot that the crew of the Black Pearl had gathered for ten years. There had to be-- his eyes landed on Kairi's shoulder, and the slowly expanding blood stain in her shirt. Frowning, the pirate took several steps closer, and then did something that he probably should have asked permission to do first. 

He yanked her shirt open to get a good look at the bullet wound. 

Kairi shrieked. 

--- 

Squall felt an unexpected rush as his glowing blue blade plunged into the chest of a man who was, five minutes earlier, an unkillable Heartless. Tearing the blade free of the dying man, the former commodore made as though to take another poor soul's life, when Aeris' hands caught his arms. Her eyes were imploring and worried as she scanned his face, "Sir! Sir, they've surrendered! There's no reason to continue to shed their blood!" 

"They are betrayers and mutineers," Leonhart unknowingly echoed his former student, "The gallows are too good for their type." 

Several mouths went dry at the statement, and they stared at this nightmare made flesh. He looked so ethereal and pale in the moonlight, but his enchanted sword's blue fire lit his face demonically. This was not a man to be crossing, and men in both the navy and among the pirates feared for their lives. What had happened to Commodore Loire? Where was the man that had headed the destruction of the pirates of the Caribbean? This man was not the same man. 

This was a man of pirating legend, and only Jafar had the courage to whisper, "Leonhart..." in the dead silence after the man's words. Squall's face went blank, and Jafar was suddenly sporting a blade through his chest, to the shock of the navy. 

The commodore smiled chillingly, "We'll not speak of this, men. We have a job to do. Aladdin, Hercules I want you two--" his words were cut off as the Black Pearl swept past them. From where he stood, he could see Yuffie wave to him, and he frowned. He had planned on taking the Pearl with him back to Port Royal, where he would ditch the men that wished to remain with the Navy, while he rode the Pearl to Tortuga. It looked like that plan had been shot out of the waters. 

When they picked up Sparrow, Turner and Swann from the caves nearly an hour later, however, Leonhart's spirits were once again high. Perhaps he did have a chance at his 'escape' again. How... delightful. 

--- 

"Sora Sparrow, be it known that you have--" 

"Captain. Captain Sora Sparrow," Sora grumbled, sending dark looks in the direction of his old friend. Leonhart didn't even look like he was blinking as he watched the 'show'. Dammit, he knew he shouldn't have trusted the bastard. Once you turned your back on the pirate within, you couldn't go back to it. That was the problem with morals. 

Now, Kairi and Bootstrap on the other hand... well, Kairi looked kinda sick, standing beside her father and the Commodore. Bootstrap... well, he couldn't find his old friend in the crowd. How annoying; his oldest friend hadn't turned up at his execution. Where was the camaraderie in that? 

Sparrow was conveniently ignoring the fact that he had been willing to barter Riku's life for a ship. 

"--for your willful commission of crimes against the crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature. The most grievous of these to be cited herewith: piracy, smuggling--" 

Kairi started when Commodore Loire's elbow caught her lightly in the side. Looking up in confusion, she saw the man's head tilt slightly. 

"--impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England--" 

Sora half laughed, grinning widely at the executioner, "That was fun." 

"--sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, pilfering, depravity, depredation and general lawlessness. And for these crimes, you have been sentenced to be on this day, hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul." 

Kairi finally caught sight of whatever it was that Leon had wanted her to see, and her eyes widened slightly. Looking up at him, she barely caught the flicker of his eye, and the twitching of his lips. Maybe... just maybe... everything he had done in the past week had just been an act. Maybe he really was still a pirate at heart. 

Because Goofy's parrot was perched on one of the banners, and she knew what that had to mean. 

"Can't breath...!", choking, she fell backwards, just barely catching sight of Riku pushing through the crowds towards the gallows. 

"Kairi!" with her father distracted and Leonhart being 'helpful', Riku was given the chance he needed. He thanked god that Kairi had provided the needed distraction, so that he could get to his friend. There was no way in hell he was letting Sora get killed now-- they hadn't seen each other in a decade! Think of all the stories! 

"Move!" the former pirate bellowed, and the startled people got out of the way-- and just in time. Riku's sword arched through the air just as the trapdoor went out from under Sora's feet. Bootstrap's aim was true, and the spiky-haired pirate had a foothold to stand upon. 

In a display of acrobatics he hadn't performed in years, Riku had leapt up onto the gallows, and was dodging and weaving through the executioner's attacks. Grinning, the blacksmith ducked a particularly vicious attack-- one that cut right through the rope keeping Sparrow aloft. 

And then the pair were off, racing towards freedom. Their movements were matched as they hadn't been for years-- it felt good to have their partner back beside them. This was what they had needed for a long time; to have their brother-in-arms back. Riku hadn't realized he had been missing it until that moment, when they were working so well together. 

Their 'fun' did not last long, however, as they found themselves cornered by Loire's men. Leonhart slowly came up to them, Kairi at his side. The pair followed slowly after Governor Swann, Squall a mixture of pleased and annoyed with his men. Pleased that they had been trained well enough to catch two escaping pirates, but annoyed by their competency. They had stopped his own escape-- after all, who would fault him for diving off the parapet after the two pirates that had put him through so much? 

"On our return to Destiny Island," Swann was saying, "I granted you clemency, and this is how you thank me? By throwing your lot in with him? He's a pirate!" 

"And a good man," Riku didn't bother to try and explain their strange relationship. It was easier just to let everyone make up their own opinions, "If all I have achieved here is that the hangman will ear two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience will be clear." 

To everyone's surprise, it was Aeris who spoke up, her voice curiously dead, "You forget your place, Turner." 

"It's right here," Riku motioned to the men who surrounded him, weapons drawn, "Between Sora and the Navy." 

"As is mine," the governor nearly jumped out of his skin when his daughter pushed past him to join her friends. She looked curiously young compared to even Riku, who's new scars seemed to age him to match his eyes. But what he saw in his daughter's eyes was not the innocence they once held, nor was it the ageless wisdom in Riku's, or even the half-crazed gleam of brilliant in Sora's. What he saw was faith. 

"Kairi..." he shook his head of his thoughts, "Lower your weapons! For goodness' sake put them down!" he was bellowing, he knew that. But he also knew that the men would not listen to anything less. Even now, they hesitated, before lowering the bayonettes. Swann closed his eyes, "So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" 

"It is," her voice was just as soft as his had been. 

Sora's gaze had not been on this ever so touching scene-- instead, it had been on a certain parrot, and he decided this was as good a time as any to take his leave, "Well! I'm actually feeling rather good about this!" He turned to the Governor with a wide smile, "I think we've all reached a very special place, eh? Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically? Kairi..." he blinked slightly when he realized the girl had her hands behind her back-- and in a hole in the seam. What was that girl up to now? He rather liked her, "It would never have worked between us, darling. I'm sorry. Riku... nice hat. Men! This is the day that you will always remember--" 

Riku looked at his friend, "Now?" 

She grinned back at him, tearing her skirt off starting with the hole she had made earlier in the day, leaving her clad in britches "Now." 

Before Sora could finish his speech, the blacksmith and the governor's daughter were running at him. Each catching him across the chest with one arm, they leapt from the battlements, laughing joyously. Well, Sora was calling them both bloody fools and howling with glee a moment later, but that was pretty much the same thing. 

"What in blazes?" Aeris found herself gaping at the unexpected sight, and then crying out in shock as her commanding officer shed his jacket and threw himself over the edge after the crazy trio, "Commodore!" 

The governor stared after them in surprise, and then he laughed softly, "Ah, Laguna my old friend. I suppose you were right. There's too much pirate blood in those ones to let them be at ease anywhere else..." 

--- 

"Captain Sparrow, Captain Leonhart," Yuffie greeted the two men with a grin, "Bootstrap and the girl, as well! Looks like the gang's all here." 

The four sopping wet escapees smiled and laughed, enjoying their hard won freedom. Sora stopped after awhile, eyeing his crew critically. Donald raised an eyebrow in question. 

"I thought you were supposed to keep to the code." 

Donald grinned, his eyes twinkling as he shot a look at Kairi. Both Riku and Sora decided to weasel the story out of her later as the man responded, "We figured they were more actual... guidelines." 

Sora chuckled, taking his hat from Goofy, "Thank you, Mister Goofy." The tall, dopey looking man just smiled. 

"Captain Sparrow," Yuffie's voice was soft, reverent, "...the Black Pearl is yours." 

Sora let those words wash over him for a moment, before moving over to the wheel. After a moment of just rubbing his hands over it, he looked up to find all eyes on him. He hiked an eyebrow, and then he scowled, "On deck you scabbarous dogs! Man the braces!" 

Kairi laughed loudly as she raced off to join Yuffie, not so sure of her place in the crew, but willing to learn whatever it took. Squall waved a hand and made way for the captain's chambers. Until he got a ship of his own, he was planning on commandeering the cabin; he was also going to be playing navigator for awhile. 

Riku moved to stand at his familiar position to the right of his captain, "It's been awhile, hasn't it?" 

Sora grinned widely at him, "It has indeed. What say we go rouse up the old gang?" 

Riku chuckled, "It'll be an adventure in itself, just trying to find them." 

"That's the point!" the captain cheered, pulling out his compass. It had never steered him wrong-- wherever he needed to be, it would guide him. And right now, it was saying he needed to get out on the ocean. Riku smiled to himself, pleased at where he was. He had come full circle, and was finally back where he belonged. 

"Now..." Sora murmured, and Riku joined in on that all too familiar phrase. Sora said it before every grand adventure they'd had to date, and this would be no exception, "Bring me that horizon." 

Kairi lifted her head from where she was working, briefly looking over at Riku and Sora at the helm. Even though she couldn't tell exactly what they were saying, she had a feeling. The redheaded Miss Swann smiled. 

"Drink up, me hearties, yo ho." 

--- 

End. 

Thanks for reading everyone!


End file.
